A Sign From Above

Fourteen years ago we were relocating to Massachusetts from Maine. We had a baby on the way so we really felt the need to make a solid long term decision on where to buy. We had a general idea of where we wanted to be geographically but narrowing down the towns would be a challenging process.

We wanted to be near my family. We needed to be near the commuter rail. Perhaps most importantly we wanted to be in a town that was a combination of where I grew up (Stoughton) and where my wife grew up (central Maine).

We looked at Canton, Sharon, Easton, Foxborough, Mansfield, and some others. A couple of houses looked liked they had potential but none of them were perfect.

We added Norton to the mix. We looked at four or five houses and one really jumped out at us primarily because of the neighborhood. It was on a cul-de-sac with only about twenty houses. All of the homes were relatively new and each was distinct from the next. It was a lovely wooded street and seemed to be a great place for families.

The house was at the higher range of our budget and didn't have everything on our wish list but it felt like a pretty good fit. With the baby on the way a decision had to be made.

My wife and I decided to "test drive" the town of Norton. Starting from the cul-de-sac, we drove to the school, the church, the train station, the mall, and even the dry cleaner. We wanted to feel what daily life would be like.

Norton was passing our test. Nothing we encountered disqualified the little house on the little lane in the little town. We just needed something to push us over the line.

One of the things people said to us is that we would love Roche Bros so we decided to check it out. I never browsed a supermarket before but that's exactly what we did.

My wife and I chatted as we strolled through the aisles. We noticed some of the elements that make it different from the mega-supermarkets. This includes the hometown touch of naming the various aisles after streets in town.

We recognized several from our house hunting adventures, Dean Street, Taunton Avenue, Mansfield Avenue, etc. Then we turned down aisle seven, paper products. Not exactly a power aisle like chips and snacks or baking needs but important nonetheless.

I looked up and broke into a wide smile. In a town with a multitude of streets to choose from, aisle seven was named after our little cul-de-sac. I showed my wife and we both had to laugh. How could we ignore this unmistakable "sign from above"? 

We bought a roll of paper towels and promptly called our broker. We bought the house and have been proud to call Norton our home ever since.