Naive Melody

Twelve years ago, I sat in a cramped room with my very pregnant wife and signed papers that would allow us to become homeowners. Eventually. Even after all the machinations of the real estate agents and quiet pleading with the former owners, we were still on the outside looking in as we anxiously awaited the birth of our son.
This is the day: Earth Day. My wife is expressly fond of pointing out that there is no better way to appreciate and commemorate the planet than by owning a chunk of it. Ours came with a front and a back yard. The very notion of having that much real estate in which my progeny could romp and play was thrilling to me back in 1997. The fact that it came at a price that we could afford was even more enticing, and so we sat there in our glassed-in cubicle and signed and initialed and checked and signed some more until our hands became sore and smoke began to rise from our pens. We had been living together for years, married for most of them, but this was the moment that we found our home.
And it was all in that great mound of paper. Did I fully understand the language of the deal that I was making? I want to believe that I did. Was I fluent in the math of mortgages to the extent that I could be certain that I was getting a good one? What a different world it would be if property changed hands via simple cash transactions. That sunny April day in 1997 would have amounted to a handshake and a suitcase full of money.
Then again, without all of the financial mumbo jumbo, I suspect that my son might still be sleeping in the drawer of our dresser, as he did for the first few weeks of his life. Since we bought our house, or at least started buying our house, we have refinanced and rejiggerd our accounts a number of times. Happily, we had good advice and even better luck. We managed to steer clear of the variable traps that were sprung on so many new homeowners. The way I look at it, we've just about got the basement and a good chunk of the floor on which we live paid for. It will be some time still before we take complete ownership of the attic. But I can wait for that.