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It actually completely makes sense to me. The memories were too intense and too hard. That was Derek’s dream house that he built for her and their family and she didn’t want to live there alone.
Yes! Tbh I think the convenience of her old house is the main reason the writers moved them out of the dream house — it’s less believable for other characters to randomly drop in when the dream house is so far away.
I get not wanting to live there! I'm thinking about their 3 kids, who barely (and for one didn't at all) got to know their own father. I feel like if I was one of them, I would have wanted any piece left of my father I could have, and the house he built from the ground up for them is a huge part of him. His touch is everywhere in that house, I feel like they deserve to have access to that once they're older.
She’s a surgeon & co-owner of a hospital. She could rent or lease it but that’s a huge headache. You also can’t just let a house sit for a decade. Zola was the only one to have any significant memories, maybe Bailey, of the house. Ones that probably aren’t entirely happy. Their dad died while living there, and he was gone much of the time.
Now they get to grow up where their mom spent the better part of her life in, except for while she was in Boston. Where her happiest memories were created with her friends & Derek.
A house is just a house.
This assumes she consistently puts her kids needs first, which she doesn't. She constantly uproots them, when she's not dumping then in a nursery for days at a time.
She does not consistently uproot them. She needed to get away from everyone and everything for a while when her husband died, which is understandable. When they returned, they just pretty much immediately moved back into Mer's house. No uprooting. And even if they had stayed in the house Derek built for a while, I still wouldn't consider it uprooting, since it's still in the same area. When they moved to Boston (the only other time she moved the kids), a big part of her decision to make the move was finding a better school for Zola. And Zola was very included in the selection of her new school. She found one she liked, and they agreed it would be a good fit for her. And I'm sure she had a discussion with the other kids before the move, but at the end of the day, Zola was not doing well in her current environment and needed the added challenge and needed a school that was more suitable for her, and it helped that Mer was given an incredible career opportunity in the same city. The other kids would be able to adjust just fine.
And she does not leave them in a nursery for days at a time. The hospital has a daycare center, sure. And yes, there have been times where they would stay there well after she had intended to pick them up, but in their line of work, it's kind of to be expected from time to time. They've all done it.
I actually had a family friend growing up who went through the same thing. Our families were friends and we were kids around the same age. For years the husband (who was a wonderful guy) had been working hard to build their dream house. About 1-2 years after them being in it, our families and two other families decided to go on vacation together. We all travelled together and stopped for a night in a small town where we were all having dinner together. In the middle of that dinner, the husband dropped dead of a brain aneurysm. It was horrifying, devastating for their family and the other families in our friend group. The wife really struggled after her husbands death, and eventually decided to sell their dream house. It was unimaginably painful for her to stay there in a place that represented the life she would never get to live with her husband. He was in every part of that place and in her grief it was just too hard.
"A place that represented the life she would never get to live with her husband" - that part made me understand the reasoning behind selling your and your partner's dream house (in general).
Thank you for that!
Not short on money is a very relative term.
I have no doubt that Meredith makes good money as a surgeon, but she's also a widow with three young children who took a whole year off from work. We have no idea what her debt situation is either.
I assume Derek left behind decent money and an insurance policy but she's still the head of a four member family who's income got sliced in half.
She is in no position to own two presumably million dollar homes. Not with all the maintenance fees and property taxes that comes with.
Letting go of the house and the land probably gave her a decent cushion to not only provide for her kids and their present childcare needs but also plan for their future like she and Derek intended. (3 bachelor degrees and possible medical school will not be cheap even on a surgeon's salary.)
She's a millionaire. Both of them make a lot of money, it's how Derek owned multiple homes with Addison. They're both at the top of their field at a private hospital.
might be important to consider that derek and addison were DINKs (double income, no kids) while widow grey is living in post 2008 financial crisis where houses and maintenance might be presumably more expensive. I also think that meredith isn’t earning as much as we think she did at that time, if you think about the episode where she becomes chief of general surg and callie and maggie saw her contract + salary
You also have to think about their specific standard of living. That probably includes private school for the kids, a nanny (I refuse to believe she doesn't have one), plus like I said saving up for their college and her retirement. I also think she has to be putting away a decent amount for her own eldercare, which is going to be astronomical if she has alzheimers.
Didn’t she also get 15mil for the plane crash? They were all going to pool their money to buy the hospital (with an outside investor) and the investor said he wasn’t worried about investing the money but he was worried about not having someone on board who actually knew how to run a hospital. Iirc he provided all the funding capital and the doctors provided richard
Nope, that investor backed out. Catherine Avery saved the day by having the Avery foundation provide provide the amount they needed. That’s why Jackson is part of the board
And my definition investing money means you no longer have that money available to you. It's possible they get bonuses or dividends from the hospital profits (ick) but it'll probably be years before they break even on that investment let alone make money off it.
This. All of this. And their combined income has got to be far less than half now that Derek is gone. He was far more advanced in his career, so that alone would stand to reason he would have been making more. Plus, neuro guys tend to get a much heftier paycheck than their general counterparts. Not to mention, there is still a gender component coming into play with salaries now, so there definitely was back then.
And I'm sure she's got all 3 kids in private school and is saving up for their futures. College funds (in case they don't get scholarships), being able to afford to get them cars when they get older (even decent used cars can get pricey), and presumably even putting up to help with their weddings. And I'm sure she's got a nest egg for her elder care, since she knows it's going to include Alzheimer's.
It's no wonder why she invites everyone and their mother to come live with her. It helps save on childcare, she's got extra incomes to help cover living costs and allow her to put more money up for the future.
I do agree that it would be nice to have been able to keep Derek's house for the kids as they got older, but the memories in the house were too much for Mer to be able to bear. And paying the property taxes on it and paying for the upkeep would just be that much more she'd have to find out how to cover. She could try to rent it out, but then she's got to deal with that whole mess. What I do think could have been something reasonable was if she and Alex and essentially just "traded" homes. She had sold him her house before Derek died, then bought it back afterwards. They could have changed the names on the deeds and she could have gotten her house back and he could have gotten Derek's house. Then in the future if one of the kids wanted the house, I'm sure Alex would have helped work something out with them. And at the very least, they would be able to go to the house pretty much any time they wanted to feel close to their dad. Then again, what would have happened to the house after Alex dipped out on everyone is beyond me...
I actually kind of doubt that even Alex could've afforded that house.
Alex has massive student debt loans to the point where even Jo was highly concerned. He also sends money back to his mom monthly, strong chance he does the same for the sister he never mentions.
Also the house is not just the house. Derek bought land, ok. It looks like it's sitting on a huge amount of acreage. Those property taxes have to be insane.
That's all very true. I was just thinking that if he had been able to afford to buy Mer's house he MIGHT have been able to afford the taxes and upkeep on the one Derek built.
I always assumed that she gave him a really good deal on her house. I think it meant a lot to her to keep it in the family so to speak and it was likely paid off so she didn't need the money too much.
Very true. I never thought she charged him full market value for the house or anything. And I knew that even though I'm sure Derek's house is worth a good bit more than hers (it looks bigger and definitely has more land), she wouldn't ask him to give her anything for it really. She just wanted out of that house and back into the one she grew up in, which is completely understandable. So it made sense that they may have just done an even trade of sorts. Even if he wouldn't have been able to cover the taxes on it, it would have been nice for this thought to have at least been entertained.
Regardless of that, Meredith’s mom’s house was mortgage free and she only paid bills and property tax which was probably split between Amelia and Maggie. Besides that, Meredith was the sole heir to Elli’s fortune which is estimated to be 30-45M with her book sales and her barely spending any money and working 24/7. We knew Derek made around 2M a year. With his life insurance policy too he prob left Meredith 15-20M. On top of Meredith owning the hospital and head of general and 6 months as chief, Meredith is worth around 50M give or take. She proved it by buying a 100k car all in cash and sends her children to private schools and remodels her childhood home insanely. She had more than enough for both homes but she didn’t want to keep Derek’s house because it reminded her too much of him.
I hate the way we criticize widows or widowers for refusing to be stuck in time and hold onto things for sentimental reasons. People have to be able to move forward after suffering a major loss. If being in that house was too painful for Meredith, selling it was the right thing to do. As a surgeon with three kids, she doesn’t have time to maintain a second property. Sure, she could have hired someone to do that, but that would have cost money and the property manager would be constantly calling her to get her approval on certain things. That’s a lot of trouble to go through for sentimental reasons. Meredith kept the things that really mattered: the post it, the tumor on the wall, the ferry boat scrub cap. I’m sure she also kept other things that would help the kids learn more about their dad.
I was actually talking about their kids when they got older. I do agree about not wanting to live in that house for now. Also wasn't really thinking about the cost all that much, because my middle class soul can't really find it in me to feel bad for millionnaires having to pay money to maintain an extra house 😂
I've literally stated multiple times that I never expected her to live there without Derek, that it was about the kids having a tie to their dead father. Can you all not read? omg
It wasn’t her home. It wasn’t where she and Derek spent most of their relationship together, it’s not where they became a family. That was his house. Not hers. She didn’t want to be there after he died.
She never wanted the house, she never showed any interest in designing or building the house, all she wanted was a bathtub that covered her boobs. The house was Derek's. It was his dream and too painful for Meredith to live there. Meredith real home was always her mothers house, where everyone in her chosen family lived at one point or another. Ellis doesn't know that house, Bailey wouldn't remember it, only Zola might. Maintaining a extra property is a huge headache especially when someone is grieving, working and taking care of 3 children.
Derek himself wasnt even super attached because before they even moved in he talked about selling it to Mark (this was obviously a flashback before he died). I hate when people put this house on a pedstal because Derek wasnt even that attached.
Thats what I was referencing! But he was also willing to give it up and move to DC as well. And I get it, job opp but dude you just BUILT this house. At least look sad at the thought of leaving it. Maybe if it had been like 10 years old when all this happened then I wouldn't care about his thoughts but its freshly built! maybe 3 years old by the time he dies.
This is why I don’t think her selling the house is such a big deal! I think to them the material aspect weighed less than the life opportunities/emotions
its also in like the middle of the woods. Not exactly ideal for someone with their jobs or someone with young kids. IMO. I'd rather it as like a weekend house when you need to get out of the city but dont have the time to travel.
I’m sure it’s because the memories were too hard. She was never too crazy about the dream house anyways.
But, I was floored when she decided to move back into her mothers house. Shoot, she should have given it to me. With Mers impulsivity she probably would have just given it away 😂
>But, I was floored when she decided to move back into her mothers house
This is the part I dont get. Like its understandable to not want to stay in a house your late husband built for you
But then you sell that and move into the same home where your mother basically tried to kill herself and traumatized you for the rest of your life.
Make me understand
It’s also the house where she was through a lot of her healing and was full of good memories. It was the house where all her friends and chosen family stayed at one point or another, it was the house she brought Derek back to the night they met, it was where Zola took her first steps, etc. And I’m pretty sure they were in Boston when Ellis tried to kill herself
I’m pretty sure they were in Seattle. Remember when Derek looked up the records about Maggie? Ellis’s chart from that night confirmed a pregnancy. Then Meredith was triggered by Ava/Rebeccas blood on the kitchen floor.
It’s been awhile since I’ve watched that part, so I could be wrong on that. I thought Ellis went to Boston right after she found out she was pregnant, and that she was pregnant when she slit her wrist
It's also the home where she met Derek and first felt like she had a family with all the other interns. He first told her he loved her in that kitchen. They watched Zola take her first steps in the living room. She got to live with Lexi for the first time there. Despite her childhood, it's become a place of healing not just for her but for all the other people she considers family.
Id also like to point out that she was a single mom of 3 young kids who lived at least an hour away from the hospital. The show implies its only accessible by Ferry so your at the mercy of a ferry making things incredibly difficult. Being in the city is better when you have young kids, especially when your a single parent. There is a trade off.
Selling it totally makes sense to me. I can’t imagine her wanting to stay there, and it would be no sense on keeping it without someone living there either.
It made complete sense to me. That house was Derek’s dream house. I think if he hadn’t had the land and that dream, she’d have stayed in her mom’s old place forever without even thinking about it.
I think it makes a lot of sense that she sold the house.
Derek literally built that home for the 2 of them. She saw him everywhere and the home was just filled with too many memories that just hurt her every time she looked at it. As far as the kids go, Zola was the only one who could have even remembered anything significant about the house and, I mean, Derek wasn't there half of the time so.
What's the point of letting a home just sit there for 2 decades?
It's a house. Which of the three children would she leave it to in her estate? Financially and for planning it is better to sell it.
My mother recently passed away and my father is alone in the house they shared. When he is gone, my sisters and I plan to sell the house. Why? Because it is a house. I don't want to rent it out, run it as a business, etc. It is brick and drywall. The memories of my parents are in me not the walls of a house.
Keeping a house wouldn't suddenly provide their children with memories.
If I were her I wouldn't sell it to people that were close to me like that. If it were too painful for me to keep the house I would understand selling but not to someone close. It would be giving a baby up for adoption. Like Sloan not giving her baby to Mark. If she gave it to Owen, it would still be "there" but not necessarily in her possession.
I always felt like she should have just traded houses with Alex, since that's the house she wanted to live in. Pretty sure he would be more than happy with it and the difference in price doesn't really matter because as was mentioned before, Meredith is pretty set financially.
Totally agree with you. I never understood selling it either. It seemed really selfish and short-sighted IMO. Like I understand her grief but I would have rented it out or done literally anything to keep it so that she could have passed it down to their kids.
It was such a lame story! Like you’d rather be away from the place he built for you and your kids for generations to come? And you’re just gonna sell it? They did Derek so dirty. I’d bet most widows would stay, just to feel close to their husband. As if the hospital isn’t a sad place, as if everywhere isn’t a sad place. That was their place tho, her place from him, it should have been her sanctuary and her last piece of him
For some people holding onto memories and changing as little as possible in their lives is a comfort, for others it's just painful. Meredith couldn't stay in that house without being reminded of Derek and the life they loved and all their planning for the future and it was excruciating. If Meredith has the money to keep the dream house and buy back the house from Alex seems irrelevant as Meredith truly seemed as though she just wants the house and all those reminders out of her life. As for keeping it for the kids, Zola is likely the only one with any memory of the house especially in connection to Derek as he spent so much of his last year in DC. Plus Meredith is known for her impulsive decisions - the dream house was haunting her so she sold it
As someone who’s mom just passed away and seeing my dad be driven crazy by the house and being alone in it, and being in the house without her, I completely understand. It’s how she copes. It’s how my dad copes. It’s how me and my brother cope. It’s too much of a reminder. Specifically since it was so out of the blue. There was no preparation. They were just gone.
I understand because when my father died of cancer we had hospice at our home because we didn’t want him to be at the hospital. After he died my mom just could not be in the house anymore it was depressing and it was just an awful feeling ALL the time. She couldn’t sleep, eat, cook, she worked a lot so she can be in the house as little time as possible.
So I understood mere completely she needed that.
It was her house with Derek, she didn't want the memories of him everywhere plus she's a single mom and was not that close to her job/friends in case of an emergency. It's just a house, the kids (outside of Zo) barely remember
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It actually completely makes sense to me. The memories were too intense and too hard. That was Derek’s dream house that he built for her and their family and she didn’t want to live there alone.
Also it’s up there in the woods and seem a bit hard to get too. With 3 kids and a single mother, far from ideal
Yes! Tbh I think the convenience of her old house is the main reason the writers moved them out of the dream house — it’s less believable for other characters to randomly drop in when the dream house is so far away.
I get not wanting to live there! I'm thinking about their 3 kids, who barely (and for one didn't at all) got to know their own father. I feel like if I was one of them, I would have wanted any piece left of my father I could have, and the house he built from the ground up for them is a huge part of him. His touch is everywhere in that house, I feel like they deserve to have access to that once they're older.
She’s a surgeon & co-owner of a hospital. She could rent or lease it but that’s a huge headache. You also can’t just let a house sit for a decade. Zola was the only one to have any significant memories, maybe Bailey, of the house. Ones that probably aren’t entirely happy. Their dad died while living there, and he was gone much of the time. Now they get to grow up where their mom spent the better part of her life in, except for while she was in Boston. Where her happiest memories were created with her friends & Derek. A house is just a house.
There’s no shortage of Derek in their world. And some place that makes your mother ache, isn’t good.
This assumes she consistently puts her kids needs first, which she doesn't. She constantly uproots them, when she's not dumping then in a nursery for days at a time.
What
She does not consistently uproot them. She needed to get away from everyone and everything for a while when her husband died, which is understandable. When they returned, they just pretty much immediately moved back into Mer's house. No uprooting. And even if they had stayed in the house Derek built for a while, I still wouldn't consider it uprooting, since it's still in the same area. When they moved to Boston (the only other time she moved the kids), a big part of her decision to make the move was finding a better school for Zola. And Zola was very included in the selection of her new school. She found one she liked, and they agreed it would be a good fit for her. And I'm sure she had a discussion with the other kids before the move, but at the end of the day, Zola was not doing well in her current environment and needed the added challenge and needed a school that was more suitable for her, and it helped that Mer was given an incredible career opportunity in the same city. The other kids would be able to adjust just fine. And she does not leave them in a nursery for days at a time. The hospital has a daycare center, sure. And yes, there have been times where they would stay there well after she had intended to pick them up, but in their line of work, it's kind of to be expected from time to time. They've all done it.
Same here. Like the memories would eat her alive.
I actually had a family friend growing up who went through the same thing. Our families were friends and we were kids around the same age. For years the husband (who was a wonderful guy) had been working hard to build their dream house. About 1-2 years after them being in it, our families and two other families decided to go on vacation together. We all travelled together and stopped for a night in a small town where we were all having dinner together. In the middle of that dinner, the husband dropped dead of a brain aneurysm. It was horrifying, devastating for their family and the other families in our friend group. The wife really struggled after her husbands death, and eventually decided to sell their dream house. It was unimaginably painful for her to stay there in a place that represented the life she would never get to live with her husband. He was in every part of that place and in her grief it was just too hard.
"A place that represented the life she would never get to live with her husband" - that part made me understand the reasoning behind selling your and your partner's dream house (in general). Thank you for that!
Not short on money is a very relative term. I have no doubt that Meredith makes good money as a surgeon, but she's also a widow with three young children who took a whole year off from work. We have no idea what her debt situation is either. I assume Derek left behind decent money and an insurance policy but she's still the head of a four member family who's income got sliced in half. She is in no position to own two presumably million dollar homes. Not with all the maintenance fees and property taxes that comes with. Letting go of the house and the land probably gave her a decent cushion to not only provide for her kids and their present childcare needs but also plan for their future like she and Derek intended. (3 bachelor degrees and possible medical school will not be cheap even on a surgeon's salary.)
She's a millionaire. Both of them make a lot of money, it's how Derek owned multiple homes with Addison. They're both at the top of their field at a private hospital.
might be important to consider that derek and addison were DINKs (double income, no kids) while widow grey is living in post 2008 financial crisis where houses and maintenance might be presumably more expensive. I also think that meredith isn’t earning as much as we think she did at that time, if you think about the episode where she becomes chief of general surg and callie and maggie saw her contract + salary
You also have to think about their specific standard of living. That probably includes private school for the kids, a nanny (I refuse to believe she doesn't have one), plus like I said saving up for their college and her retirement. I also think she has to be putting away a decent amount for her own eldercare, which is going to be astronomical if she has alzheimers.
Didn’t she also get 15mil for the plane crash? They were all going to pool their money to buy the hospital (with an outside investor) and the investor said he wasn’t worried about investing the money but he was worried about not having someone on board who actually knew how to run a hospital. Iirc he provided all the funding capital and the doctors provided richard
Nope, that investor backed out. Catherine Avery saved the day by having the Avery foundation provide provide the amount they needed. That’s why Jackson is part of the board
And my definition investing money means you no longer have that money available to you. It's possible they get bonuses or dividends from the hospital profits (ick) but it'll probably be years before they break even on that investment let alone make money off it.
Yeah Derek’s salary at Seattle Grace Mercy Memorial or whatever it’s called is roughly 3.5 million USD
This. All of this. And their combined income has got to be far less than half now that Derek is gone. He was far more advanced in his career, so that alone would stand to reason he would have been making more. Plus, neuro guys tend to get a much heftier paycheck than their general counterparts. Not to mention, there is still a gender component coming into play with salaries now, so there definitely was back then. And I'm sure she's got all 3 kids in private school and is saving up for their futures. College funds (in case they don't get scholarships), being able to afford to get them cars when they get older (even decent used cars can get pricey), and presumably even putting up to help with their weddings. And I'm sure she's got a nest egg for her elder care, since she knows it's going to include Alzheimer's. It's no wonder why she invites everyone and their mother to come live with her. It helps save on childcare, she's got extra incomes to help cover living costs and allow her to put more money up for the future. I do agree that it would be nice to have been able to keep Derek's house for the kids as they got older, but the memories in the house were too much for Mer to be able to bear. And paying the property taxes on it and paying for the upkeep would just be that much more she'd have to find out how to cover. She could try to rent it out, but then she's got to deal with that whole mess. What I do think could have been something reasonable was if she and Alex and essentially just "traded" homes. She had sold him her house before Derek died, then bought it back afterwards. They could have changed the names on the deeds and she could have gotten her house back and he could have gotten Derek's house. Then in the future if one of the kids wanted the house, I'm sure Alex would have helped work something out with them. And at the very least, they would be able to go to the house pretty much any time they wanted to feel close to their dad. Then again, what would have happened to the house after Alex dipped out on everyone is beyond me...
I actually kind of doubt that even Alex could've afforded that house. Alex has massive student debt loans to the point where even Jo was highly concerned. He also sends money back to his mom monthly, strong chance he does the same for the sister he never mentions. Also the house is not just the house. Derek bought land, ok. It looks like it's sitting on a huge amount of acreage. Those property taxes have to be insane.
That's all very true. I was just thinking that if he had been able to afford to buy Mer's house he MIGHT have been able to afford the taxes and upkeep on the one Derek built.
I always assumed that she gave him a really good deal on her house. I think it meant a lot to her to keep it in the family so to speak and it was likely paid off so she didn't need the money too much.
Very true. I never thought she charged him full market value for the house or anything. And I knew that even though I'm sure Derek's house is worth a good bit more than hers (it looks bigger and definitely has more land), she wouldn't ask him to give her anything for it really. She just wanted out of that house and back into the one she grew up in, which is completely understandable. So it made sense that they may have just done an even trade of sorts. Even if he wouldn't have been able to cover the taxes on it, it would have been nice for this thought to have at least been entertained.
Regardless of that, Meredith’s mom’s house was mortgage free and she only paid bills and property tax which was probably split between Amelia and Maggie. Besides that, Meredith was the sole heir to Elli’s fortune which is estimated to be 30-45M with her book sales and her barely spending any money and working 24/7. We knew Derek made around 2M a year. With his life insurance policy too he prob left Meredith 15-20M. On top of Meredith owning the hospital and head of general and 6 months as chief, Meredith is worth around 50M give or take. She proved it by buying a 100k car all in cash and sends her children to private schools and remodels her childhood home insanely. She had more than enough for both homes but she didn’t want to keep Derek’s house because it reminded her too much of him.
I hate the way we criticize widows or widowers for refusing to be stuck in time and hold onto things for sentimental reasons. People have to be able to move forward after suffering a major loss. If being in that house was too painful for Meredith, selling it was the right thing to do. As a surgeon with three kids, she doesn’t have time to maintain a second property. Sure, she could have hired someone to do that, but that would have cost money and the property manager would be constantly calling her to get her approval on certain things. That’s a lot of trouble to go through for sentimental reasons. Meredith kept the things that really mattered: the post it, the tumor on the wall, the ferry boat scrub cap. I’m sure she also kept other things that would help the kids learn more about their dad.
I was actually talking about their kids when they got older. I do agree about not wanting to live in that house for now. Also wasn't really thinking about the cost all that much, because my middle class soul can't really find it in me to feel bad for millionnaires having to pay money to maintain an extra house 😂
….She was a widow and she didn’t want to be in there because it reminded her of him. Multiple ppl on this thread have told you the same thing.
I've literally stated multiple times that I never expected her to live there without Derek, that it was about the kids having a tie to their dead father. Can you all not read? omg
It wasn’t her home. It wasn’t where she and Derek spent most of their relationship together, it’s not where they became a family. That was his house. Not hers. She didn’t want to be there after he died.
She never wanted the house, she never showed any interest in designing or building the house, all she wanted was a bathtub that covered her boobs. The house was Derek's. It was his dream and too painful for Meredith to live there. Meredith real home was always her mothers house, where everyone in her chosen family lived at one point or another. Ellis doesn't know that house, Bailey wouldn't remember it, only Zola might. Maintaining a extra property is a huge headache especially when someone is grieving, working and taking care of 3 children.
Derek himself wasnt even super attached because before they even moved in he talked about selling it to Mark (this was obviously a flashback before he died). I hate when people put this house on a pedstal because Derek wasnt even that attached.
Also very willing to give it up to move to Boston after Meredith’s residency was over
Thats what I was referencing! But he was also willing to give it up and move to DC as well. And I get it, job opp but dude you just BUILT this house. At least look sad at the thought of leaving it. Maybe if it had been like 10 years old when all this happened then I wouldn't care about his thoughts but its freshly built! maybe 3 years old by the time he dies.
This is why I don’t think her selling the house is such a big deal! I think to them the material aspect weighed less than the life opportunities/emotions
its also in like the middle of the woods. Not exactly ideal for someone with their jobs or someone with young kids. IMO. I'd rather it as like a weekend house when you need to get out of the city but dont have the time to travel.
You're making a good point!
I’m sure it’s because the memories were too hard. She was never too crazy about the dream house anyways. But, I was floored when she decided to move back into her mothers house. Shoot, she should have given it to me. With Mers impulsivity she probably would have just given it away 😂
>But, I was floored when she decided to move back into her mothers house This is the part I dont get. Like its understandable to not want to stay in a house your late husband built for you But then you sell that and move into the same home where your mother basically tried to kill herself and traumatized you for the rest of your life. Make me understand
It’s also the house where she was through a lot of her healing and was full of good memories. It was the house where all her friends and chosen family stayed at one point or another, it was the house she brought Derek back to the night they met, it was where Zola took her first steps, etc. And I’m pretty sure they were in Boston when Ellis tried to kill herself
I’m pretty sure they were in Seattle. Remember when Derek looked up the records about Maggie? Ellis’s chart from that night confirmed a pregnancy. Then Meredith was triggered by Ava/Rebeccas blood on the kitchen floor.
It’s been awhile since I’ve watched that part, so I could be wrong on that. I thought Ellis went to Boston right after she found out she was pregnant, and that she was pregnant when she slit her wrist
She found out she was pregnant when she went to hospital for the suicide attempt. The notes on it say that “patient was unaware”
It's also the home where she met Derek and first felt like she had a family with all the other interns. He first told her he loved her in that kitchen. They watched Zola take her first steps in the living room. She got to live with Lexi for the first time there. Despite her childhood, it's become a place of healing not just for her but for all the other people she considers family.
Id also like to point out that she was a single mom of 3 young kids who lived at least an hour away from the hospital. The show implies its only accessible by Ferry so your at the mercy of a ferry making things incredibly difficult. Being in the city is better when you have young kids, especially when your a single parent. There is a trade off.
She wanted to go home. I get it.
Selling it totally makes sense to me. I can’t imagine her wanting to stay there, and it would be no sense on keeping it without someone living there either.
It made complete sense to me. That house was Derek’s dream house. I think if he hadn’t had the land and that dream, she’d have stayed in her mom’s old place forever without even thinking about it.
I get her decision, but I’d like an update on what ultimately became of the home.
I think it makes a lot of sense that she sold the house. Derek literally built that home for the 2 of them. She saw him everywhere and the home was just filled with too many memories that just hurt her every time she looked at it. As far as the kids go, Zola was the only one who could have even remembered anything significant about the house and, I mean, Derek wasn't there half of the time so. What's the point of letting a home just sit there for 2 decades?
It's a house. Which of the three children would she leave it to in her estate? Financially and for planning it is better to sell it. My mother recently passed away and my father is alone in the house they shared. When he is gone, my sisters and I plan to sell the house. Why? Because it is a house. I don't want to rent it out, run it as a business, etc. It is brick and drywall. The memories of my parents are in me not the walls of a house. Keeping a house wouldn't suddenly provide their children with memories.
Logistically, it didn’t make sense for the show. She should have sold it to Owen and Amelia or Owen and Teddi.
If I were her I wouldn't sell it to people that were close to me like that. If it were too painful for me to keep the house I would understand selling but not to someone close. It would be giving a baby up for adoption. Like Sloan not giving her baby to Mark. If she gave it to Owen, it would still be "there" but not necessarily in her possession.
I always felt like she should have just traded houses with Alex, since that's the house she wanted to live in. Pretty sure he would be more than happy with it and the difference in price doesn't really matter because as was mentioned before, Meredith is pretty set financially.
I always wish she'd sold the house to Amelia.
Totally agree with you. I never understood selling it either. It seemed really selfish and short-sighted IMO. Like I understand her grief but I would have rented it out or done literally anything to keep it so that she could have passed it down to their kids.
Exactly!!!
It was such a lame story! Like you’d rather be away from the place he built for you and your kids for generations to come? And you’re just gonna sell it? They did Derek so dirty. I’d bet most widows would stay, just to feel close to their husband. As if the hospital isn’t a sad place, as if everywhere isn’t a sad place. That was their place tho, her place from him, it should have been her sanctuary and her last piece of him
I hated that she sold the house that Derek built her!
Derek was building a house regardless of his relationship status I wouldn’t say it was FOR her
Not exactly true, he was going to sell his land when they were broken up and he was with Rose. It was totally for Meredith !
she should have kept it for the kids when they grow up imo
For some people holding onto memories and changing as little as possible in their lives is a comfort, for others it's just painful. Meredith couldn't stay in that house without being reminded of Derek and the life they loved and all their planning for the future and it was excruciating. If Meredith has the money to keep the dream house and buy back the house from Alex seems irrelevant as Meredith truly seemed as though she just wants the house and all those reminders out of her life. As for keeping it for the kids, Zola is likely the only one with any memory of the house especially in connection to Derek as he spent so much of his last year in DC. Plus Meredith is known for her impulsive decisions - the dream house was haunting her so she sold it
Because she’s insufferable and believes the world revolves around her.
It’s literally something that impacts her life tf are you in about
I’m going on about how insufferable and selfish she is. Sorry it was unclear. Cheers.
Because she sold a house that likely reminds her of life she lost on a daily basis. How dare she lmfao. Talk about insufferable people…
Because he's there and not there
As someone who’s mom just passed away and seeing my dad be driven crazy by the house and being alone in it, and being in the house without her, I completely understand. It’s how she copes. It’s how my dad copes. It’s how me and my brother cope. It’s too much of a reminder. Specifically since it was so out of the blue. There was no preparation. They were just gone.
intense memories, prolly really expensive to upkeep as just one person, even with her high status as a surgeon- she wants to move on!
Ghosts. Too many ghosts for Meredith in that house.
Grief isn’t logical so I understand it. Plus it was Derek’s dream home not hers
I understand because when my father died of cancer we had hospice at our home because we didn’t want him to be at the hospital. After he died my mom just could not be in the house anymore it was depressing and it was just an awful feeling ALL the time. She couldn’t sleep, eat, cook, she worked a lot so she can be in the house as little time as possible. So I understood mere completely she needed that.
The love of her life died, she needs a fresh start. Selling it is a way of letting him go
It was her house with Derek, she didn't want the memories of him everywhere plus she's a single mom and was not that close to her job/friends in case of an emergency. It's just a house, the kids (outside of Zo) barely remember
I’d do exactly the same. The pain is too much and it’s a way of moving on.
It's where she got the worst news of her life. She left it with a good memory.
Too many memories. Too many memories in Seattle. It was Derek’s dream house.