Once Lou and I knew how much our moving package was going to be, we could finally start looking for a place of our own to live. 

Miami is an enormous city, and like most big cities, there are some areas that are more expensive than others — but the cheaper parts of town can also be pretty dangerous. So Lou and I decided to base our search on the location of his new company’s office. It was technically in North Miami — which is a part of Miami that ranges from extremely nice to down right dodgy. 

We, of course, got opinions from Steve and Paola on where to look, and Hans weighed in, too. Hans lived on Miami Beach — which was sort of close to the office, but way too pricey for us. But he recommended a rental-listing agency near his condo. He said the agents in that office are some of the best, and so one day, I drove up to the office with a very sore and weak Lou in tow. We met with a really nice guy named “Omar.”

Omar was young and pretty eager to help us.

Omar started by giving us a realtor’s point of view on every section of the greater Miami area, and he told us which parts of town he thought would suit us the best. After an exhausting amount of detail was expressed, Omar, Lou and I all agreed that Aventura was going to be the best place for us to look. Just isolating that one piece of information had been completely zapping for Lou, so we gave Omar all of our financial parameters, our phone numbers, and email addresses so he could start forwarding us some listings.

When we were on our way back to Steve and Paola’s, I remember Lou and I having a pretty frank discussion in the car. Miami was going to be expensive, and there was something about the way Hans reacted to the moving package Steve agreed to that didn’t sit well with Lou. Everything Lou negotiated seemed reasonable, but it still felt like Lou and I were coming at this situation from such a position of weakness. 

Lou also felt like this so-called “company re-boot” was every bit as risky as a full-fledged start-up, and he wasn’t totally sure how deep the financial backing went outside of Steve’s or Han’s own personal money. So there were things about this job that still felt very unstable to us both. But living in Steve and Paola’s house was putting added strain on everyone.

So it was clear that we needed to put all of our focus on finding a place of our own.

The day after we met with Omar, he sent me quite a few listings in the Aventura area. I decided to go on my own to scout the places first — just to make sure they weren’t a waste of time. But while I was out with Omar, Lou thought it might be good for him to spend a couple of hours in the office, just to get to know the whole team, and to show them all that he was really invested in their success. 

It seemed a bit too soon to me to have Lou going into the office in his condition, but I totally understood what Lou felt he needed to do. So I dropped off Lou at his new office, and then met up with Omar to look at a few listings.

Every listing Omar showed me felt like I was touring a movie set for a film based in Miami.

Each condo was super white, super modern, and very edgy. The first three places Omar showed me were out of our budget, but the fourth place was my favorite of the day. It was the only condo on Omar’s list that wasn’t white on white on white. Instead, it was all sand tones, and it felt fresh and inviting. I instantly loved the place, and it had amazing amenities that I knew Lou would love, too. It was exactly in our price range, and we would be renting the unit directly from the owner — instead of through a rental agency.

Omar explained that Lou and I would still have to fill out a rental application with the building, and if we passed our background check, credit check, and could prove that at least one of us is a U.S. citizen, then we would have to be approved by the condo association board. If all of that went well, we might get the place. So there were a lot of hoops to jump through — and that takes time.

Omar had me start with the paperwork right away. Then, he made arrangements for us to meet again the next afternoon so we could show Lou the condo to make sure he liked it, too. Just three hours of looking took all of the vigor out of me, and I felt confused and frustrated by how difficult it was to rent a place in Miami. 

After I left Omar, I went to pick up Lou from his “first day” of work. When Lou came down from the office and slid into the car, he looked terrible, too. Clearly, it was too soon for him to go to work.

But even though he didn’t say it out loud, I think I knew deep down inside that it was the job itself that was making Lou feel extra ill that day.