Today was a great day for study, and a great day for reflections. As many of you know, I have lived in the same apartment complex for over 100 years and I've lived in about 5 different units over the course of time. I leave, I come back, I stay, I leave again, I over think it, and I move back. This pattern began when I was just out of high school and I've basically been living the life of a homing pigeon with this same complex for over the long haul. Well, today I decided to move out of my two-bedroom (basically two-bath) house with my daughter, and I'm going to get my own place - - again. I laugh when I say that, and the landlord laughed right along with me. Leaving Laura? What the hell? She's 32 years old, how will she ever survive without her mom? You can't see me laughing, but I'm on the floor.
About six years ago Laura called me from her roost in Tulsa saying she believed I needed a roommate. I couldn't possibly be happy living on my own, and she knew the perfect roommate for me. Though I argued with her, telling her I was fine, there was no reason to split rent, share space, or put up with her endless menagerie of animals, she moved in anyway. I think she may have waited for me to go to the store before employing her older brother to do the dirty work. I know that since that day I've put up with geese being hatched in my bathroom more often than I care to recall. I have to say MY bathroom, because it's the one without the tub and when I INSISTED that the goose eggs be wrapped in towels and placed in a box with the proper lighting, I also insisted that they not be in the bathroom with the tub! I have priorities.
Laura has rescued horses and tied them to the trees downstairs. She has rescued dogs and we sleep with most of them until she can find them homes. We rarely rescue cats, we just pick them up and let them know they'll be fed and cared for until they decide to leave. You don't force a cat to stay if it wants to leave. We have seen ducks, birds of all species, and even a baby goat come through the place, but no more friends. No more cycle of Laura's Resident Farmhouse for me. I'm taking my one dog, Ginger, and I'm heading all the way across the breezeway from my 2nd child. I have to tell the truth, I am glad I won't be on the other side of the complex. I plan on using her kitchen and dining room to pour the soaps and candles. She doesn't need the dining room and she is rarely in her kitchen. She's more of a pop-it-in-the-microwave type; you know those people. I'm the chef who has no one to cook for. She's a minimalist when it comes to food. (Pop Tart for dinner? Sure.)
I took a tour of the new place today. I'm not sure when it will be ready, I may wait another month or so in order to give the maintenance guys time to really do it right. Usually when someone moves out they replace all the carpet, appliances, blinds, paint, you name it. This time around if I wait a minute they can go one better and get me new countertops and shelves in my kitchen that I don't have in the current unit. I won't get my requested washer and dryer, that's asking too much, but I'll buy my own. I won't get the new door bell I requested either. The manager took the door bells out about 2 years ago and I now have to listen for Ginger to sound off to let me know Amazon is downstairs backing up their big truck! Ginger has saved me from countless delivery drivers, postal people, the occasional visitor to another tenant, and the dog from the apartment below us. That Chihuahua could be the death of any of us, but with Ginger around, I am alerted the first time a butterfly lands on the bush outside the window! Such a great dog.
I walked the new place today though, and it was wonderful. I live in a complex that from time to time I can come home and see the maintenance men/man sitting on my couch testing out my television and internet connection to be sure they still work while they hide from the manager. They also test my milk, bread, cheese, cereal, toaster, or cookies I may have out waiting for Laura. (Yes, I'm that mom even if she is 32 years old.) The maintenance men are like family - - hell, they've been here longer than we have been, and we were born here I think. It was so long ago I don't remember. I know the other tenants, I know their families, I know their lifestyles, their secrets, their habits, and they know mine. So many of my old timer neighbors were plotting against me when I was planning to move to Scotland. They were concocting ways to trap me and hide me under the stairs in the little boiler room thing. No one wanted me to leave. I make them brownies, soaps, candles, and any cookies Laura doesn't eat goes out to anyone who happens to be walking by the window. If I see them, I call out, they come by, and they get a cookie - - we have such a tight group and we like it that way.
The new place has one big bedroom that is 15 feet by 13 feet. The living room is 15 by 21 feet. The kitchen is around 15 x 12 and the the dining is around the same. The bathroom is big enough to dance around in really, and I have 3 clothes closets, two in my room and one in the hall. There is another closet when you first come into the apartment and a long thin pantry closet in the dining room. Out on the patio, which is fenced and has a "yard" or garden of about 30 feet by 30 feet, I have another storage closet, another walk in, and it is about 6 feet by 4 feet I guess. It's a good size. We don't have garages or covered parking, but our neighbors watch out for each other, we don't let anyone who doesn't live here or know someone who lives here come into the parking lot for soliciting. We have block parties that go on for hours in the summertime, with cook outs, swimming, and those stupid silly games that I suck at! Laura's good at them, she's got the wrists for it (being a roper). I suck at all things competitive really.
I LOVE and I do mean LOVE the new place. Though I've been in and out of this type of unit a million times I wanted to measure and take photos and get things ready in my mind for it. It may be February before I take possession since I'm going to probably wait for the new countertops. I will hit up Home Depot soon to pretend shop. I love that. I buy a 1000 things in my head and then end up going on Pintrest to be sure it's Jeannie-Approved. (My bestie) Can't wait, can't wait. I'll be able to listen to my music as long and as loudly as I want to. I won't have to figure out how to change the TV from the X-Box back to normal. I'll be able to kick box and dance since it's on the ground level. I'll be able to let Ginger out to bark at all the passersby and they can't wait to be able to feed her treats and come in the back door for coffee in the mornings. We do have a great set of neighbors....but after 100 years one would think that I should know a few of them pretty well, right?
I'm OK not moving to Scotland. This is home, and these are my people.
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