I have been married for nearly 3 years and a half. Our plan at the beginning was to stay at my in-laws for six months while we saved some money. Unfortunately some of our plans had to change but things happen for a reason.

Here I live with my mother and sister in-law and my wife’s grandparents. Grandma is a really special person and is the center of the family. She is very kind and generous although she is quite moody but it’s probably because of her age. She is in the 90′s and my wife loves her so much. She is the main reason we have stayed so long.

But we all know that living with the in-laws is not good for a newly married couple. We noticed that we are not yet a “real” husband and wife. Marisu is treated like a daughter and we depend on others to make decisions. We also noticed that our relationship was falling into a routine and without realizing we started to drift apart. When Marisu arrived home she would go upstairs and be with her grandma while she watched tv and I would come downstairs and write classes and go online. The worst thing about this situation is that we got used to it.

Fortunately we snapped out of this situation and decided to start looking for a place of our own. It is so difficult to find a place nowadays. We went to several small apartments but they were just so small that it wasn’t worth the price. I was very discouraged and thought that we would never get out of here. However, accidentally we came across a friend that was going to move out of her apartment. I loved it and told her I wanted it. She told me she was going to talk to her landlord and tell her about us. Days past and we didn’t get any answer until a couple of days ago when I got a sad message from her via Facebook titles “Bad news”. Someone had already made a deal and we lost the apartment.

I lost hope but in her message she included the landlord’s phone so my wife called and tried to convince her to give it to us.  It was in vain but she told us that she had another flat so I told my wife that we should go and see it. We met Leonor at her house and we saw the apartment. It wasn’t bad but it was not that great. It was on the last floor and the bathroom was not in the apartment itself. I felt a bit disappointed but I asked her if she had any other place. And then we saw it. The apartment is amazing. It is just what we have been looking for. It is more expensive but we think it is worth it.

Marisu and I are so excited. It is like we are going to start our real family. Today I am calling Leonor to confirm the place and we are going to move next month. It is going to be positive for us although we don’t know how to cook. I will have to buy one of those cooking buys and start learning. We just can’t wait to move out.

It is going to be difficult for my wife’s family specially for grandma. We had a great time here and appreciate their help. I never had any problems with them and they made me feel part of the family. But it is time to start our family and we have a mix of feelings. We are excited, a bit scared, anxious but very happy.