A while back I wrote a post about my turbulent (at best)
housing situation, and despite my good-intentioned attempts to stay positive
about the changes in my life I was bested by the stress of it all. But now that
some time has lapsed, as well as my *ahem* monthly
cycle, I'm pleased to be writing from a much better place, both literally
and emotionally. We moved into an apartment a month ago and despite my initial
depression about going from my dream home to what I'm calling a
"transitional home", I'm loving the simplicity of our new living
arrangement. Our possessions have been reduced by nearly half and our monthly
living expenses by almost the same. There is no yard work to keep up with
or maintenance repairs, and the only bills coming in are for rent and electric.
It takes only 20 minutes to clean the entire place, and even though it lacks
the charm of a 1920's bungalow I'm not freezing my ass off because of drafty
windows, or walking down three flights of stairs to do laundry in the basement.
I can honestly say that I'm relieved to be walking away from everything that
big, beautiful house would have ended up being: a lot of work, time, money, and unnecessary possessions. This process has changed our perspective -
or maybe it just clued us into what we really value - and we're now looking for
something smaller and simpler to call home. We don't know what that will be
yet, but for now home is this undemanding apartment with a great view and the
people we love.
