Tales of a First-Time Home Buyer: Learning the Area

I grew up in Northern Virginia, but it was eastern Northern Virginia, technically Springfield. I was born and raised here, went to Elementary School and High School here, worked at the Staples in Springfield, worked as a lifeguard, worked at a doctor’s office, took some college courses at NOVA… I thought I knew the place pretty well.

It turns out that living in South Riding is a lot different than Springfield. The biggest hurdle I have personally had to overcome is learning the area. All of the places I used to go for things are almost 45 minutes away back in Springfield, make it an hour and a half if there’s traffic. I am finding it hard to let go…

For example, I’m no prima donna or anything, but I love good ol’ Tommy’s Barber. They know me by name, it’s cheap, and they do a great job. I have been going there on and off for over ten years. I used to swing by there after work on my way home; it was right on the way. Last week, my hair was long and shaggy and I reluctantly decided to find a place a little closer to home. Well, they did a terrible job and I paid more for it. You could actually see the line where they were supposed to blend it in. I was venting to my wife and she tried to keep a straight face while I showed her the damage.

Another example is going out to dinner. It’s not that we’re fussy, but we don’t go out to eat as much as we used to because our budget is a little tighter, and when we do go out we want it to be good. We used to have our go-to spots when we lived in the apartment – Lito’s Pizza if we wanted cheap, Dogfish Head Brewery or Hoang’s if we wanted average, or a great Sushi place called Koi Koi or Clyde’s if we wanted something a bit more fancy. We were also right next to DC, where we could take a $15 cab ride and meet friends for some libations and not have to worry about driving home. Now we’re way out. A cab ride would probably cost $75. We are surrounded by hundreds of restaurants and we don’t know any of them. It’s fun trying new things but sometimes you just want to rely on old faithful.

My final example would be the roads and learning my way in and out of the area. My best friend Todd lives down in Woodbridge about 30 miles southeast of South Riding. Even when I lived in Springfield it was about a 30-40 minute drive down to his house. He has a couple of kids so it’s much harder for him to get out than me, so I used to go down and visit him a lot. I didn’t think about it until I was on the way last weekend, but I was headed to his house and I realized I had never gone this way and I wasn’t sure what the best route was to take. To make matters worse, my trusty iPhone didn’t have consistent service in the sticks so I couldn’t look at Google Maps. I made it, but I definitely went the wrong way on 66 for about 5 miles and made the trip much more difficult than it should have been. I looked at a map afterwards and saw where I went wrong, but it was frustrating to go through.

Don’t get me wrong, we love our new house and we’ll eventually learn the area. Whether it’s going to a new bank, finding a good restaurant, or God forbid finding a new place to get my hair cut, we will find new go-to places that we love and rely on. I look back, and although we are out of the area we are familiar with and a little farther from our friends, we have so much more, we have learned so much, and we have grown up a lot. I’m excited to become a true resident of South Riding, make new friends, find a decent sushi restaurant, and shave my head so I never have to go back to that horrible barber…