There are some days you anticipate for so long that when they finally arrive, they almost don’t feel real.
This was one of those days.
For months, buying a home in Tuscany had been a dream, a plan, and a possibility. We had searched listings, studied towns, made spreadsheets, talked through our must-haves and our compromises, and imagined what it might actually be like to have a little place of our own in Italy.
Then came the house hunting. The beautiful homes. The ones we loved but knew weren’t quite right. The one we initially crossed off the list because it stretched our budget a little too far. And then, as I shared in Sometimes You Have to Circle Back, we found ourselves taking one more look.
And now here I was—suitcases packed, standing in the airport, ready to board a plane to Italy knowing that in just a few days, we would sign the papers and officially become homeowners in Tuscany.
Even writing those words felt surreal.
I remember the anticipation I felt that day. I was excited, nervous, grateful, and probably still a little bit in disbelief. There had been so many details to work through to get to this point, and there were still plenty ahead of us. But for the first time, the dream wasn’t somewhere off in the distance.
It was just a plane ride away.
In a few days, we would walk into a notary’s office in Montepulciano and sign our names. Then we would drive to our hilltop town of Sarteano and unlock the door to a home that was actually ours.
Our home in Tuscany
Looking back at this photo now, I wish I could whisper to the woman standing there, Just wait. You have no idea how special the next few weeks are going to be.
There would be cleaning and painting, furniture to assemble, projects that didn’t go quite as planned, new friends, wonderful meals, morning walks for a cornetto, music floating through open windows, and so many little moments when I would stop and think, I can’t believe we get to call this place home.
But on this day, I didn’t know all of that yet.
I just knew I was on my way.
And sometimes, the anticipation of a dream coming true is almost as sweet as the dream itself.
