A Long Journey to Our Own Home

On May 9, 2005, we landed in San Francisco, California to start a new chapter of our lives. On May 27, 2009, 4 years later, we stepped into our very own home here in San Jose, California, USA.

It's been a long hard road, through uncertainties and struggles over the 4 years, to be able to finally sit down in a home that we can truly call ours. As Suresh and I locked the door for the final time at Amberwood Drive, we took a deep breath and reflected on our lives from the moment in 2004 when we decided to take the plunge and packed our bags (and our lives) and move thousands of miles away from our family and all that was familiar to us.

Our first year living at Rivermark, Santa Clara, went by in a flash. Shaayla turned 1 year old on Nov 19, 2005. We went on our first holiday to Las Vegas during Thanksgiving that year, making that our first road trip. The following year in Mar, we had a great snow holiday up at Lake Tahoe - Shaayla's first time toddling on the snow.

Barely a week after moving into Amberwood, we made a trip back to Singapore & Malaysia for Shamini's wedding in Aug 2006. Shaayla and I stayed till Nov and grandparents really enjoyed her presence. She's grown so much since they last saw her. 2007 was a year of many achievements for Shaayla. She started many classes - mandarin, ballet, music, and gym. Every day was a joy watching her grow and learn. In April 2007, Suresh's Mum came to live with us for 6 months. We vacationed in Yosemite and LA and of course, Disneyland.

Every now and then, we have to remind ourselves to be prudent with our expenses. We never really thought about where we were going to settle down for the long term. I think it wasn't because we were not sure, it was rather we were so caught up with the daily grind of balancing our monthly budget. Living on a single income meant thinking twice before making a big purchase or going on holidays.

Although it was a small rental apartment, Amberwood held many fond memories for us. Two things will also be remembered - in Dec 2007, Shaayla started attending preschool at Merryhill School. I think I took her going to 'school' harder than Shaayla. For 3 years, I've been with her almost every day - going through joys and pains with her, watching her learn, picking her up when she fell - it was hard seeing her cry when we left her at the school in the morning. But it all turned out fine and she even made a friend on her first day of school.

Amberwood will also be remembered fondly as we welcomed Shayman to our family on Apr 19, 2008. My Mum had barely recovered from her jetlag a week earlier and this little bundle couldn't wait to join the world. Big sister, Shaayla, was all ready to take on her duties.

Day by day, news of the US economy threw a pall of doubt on us. Suresh left NetApp and we took a break at Fort Bragg. After he joined AMCC, he was definitely much happier - more work, but he was happier that he was learning things.

As the US economy made a downturn, the Singapore property market was soaring. In Jun 2008, we made our decision - sell our first property in Singapore, so that we can afford to purchase a property here in California. It couldn't have been a more opportune time. Property prices and interest rates in California were slowly cooling off. With federal housing assistance programs, it looked like we could finally afford something.

It was a long process with tonnes of paperwork, lots of documentation and many weekends of scouting neighbourhoods. Perhaps the thing that kept Suresh and I awake most nights is the worry of making sure that Shaayla and Shayman have the best education that we can provide them with. On a single income, we have to face the reality that private education for both of them will be beyond our means. We therefore spent many hours, often late into the night, researching on schools, areas to live, and of course, punching the calculator.

When we finally found this house, we thought 'how can it be otherwise'? The house numbers were good, the location was good, the house was reasonably upgraded, and it was at a price within our budget. We thought - this was it. But we didn't expect to be caught up in the middle of a sad family situation for the sellers, so things were delayed as we went through many rounds of negotiations. Even with the sellers agreeing to the sale price, we still held our breath as the underwriter sifted through our documents. It was not till May 14, 2009, when both of us signed on the title deed, that reality sunk it - we now own a house. And on May 27, 2009, with moving boxes sitting all over our house, we settled down for the night in a home to call our own.