As a writer, I’ve always believed in the importance of journaling. For the sake of posterity, I try to record as much as I can about our lives. In today’s case, I am impressed to make a record of a love lost: the apartment we said goodbye to this month. I am deeply depressed to say it is quite possibly the last apartment to which we will ever have the misfortune of returning the keys.
As anyone who has lived in an apartment knows, there are endless joys to be recorded about such a life. An apartment has a quirky personality I imagine no house could ever have, and that is what makes it so lovable. Often, one can multitask by calling the short jaunt to the community laundromat, “cardio.” Many a tenant has honed their invaluable eavesdropping skills by listening to their neighbors through paper thin walls. The list goes on and on. But I would like to take a moment to detail a few of the things we will miss about our particular apartment, the place we have called home for just over a year.
Family Time. I will miss our long family walks from our garage to our front door, or better yet, from whatever parking spot we were able to find that day tucked away in the farthest corner of the parking lot. Nothing beats the thrill of pulling into the crowded sea of cars after 5pm any day of the week, wondering if there will be a spot at all. Life is nothing without adventure.
Scenic Laundry Experience. We weren’t fortunate enough to live in a place with a community laundromat, but we weren’t forced into the cookie-cutter lifestyle that comes with an in-unit washer and dryer, either. We had our own personal facilities out on the back porch. This meant that every time I had to load, unload, or switch the laundry, I got to put on clothes and shoes, and venture out to greet whatever random neighbors happened to be walking by. It was an invaluable opportunity to socialize with the kids during the day and the creepy midnight gym rats at night. I even honed my skills at carrying an entire load in one armful, since dropping a piece of laundry on the dirty porch meant an added joy of rewashing. I mean, who is worthy of THAT MUCH joy? Our new place has a washer and dryer upstairs by the bedrooms. It is a mundane simplicity that will take some getting used to.
Musical Pipes. There are many games I enjoy playing with my kids, not the least of which is “can I flush the toilet, or is one of my kids napping?” It is a unique game we made up in our apartment because the pipes squealed so loudly when we flushed, showered, or washed a dish, that we often had to activate both hemispheres of our brains to make sure it was okay to pee. Creative spins on potty time included play dates for the sole purpose of using someone else’s toilet. Even the neighbors got involved, as whenever THEY ran the water, we got to listen to the melodious pipes as well. My favorite time to settle in for an ear-thrilling concert was 2 AM.
Midnight Lullabies from the Neighbor Kids. Oh wait. That was our kid waking up the OTHER neighbors. Our apologies. Hope you at least enjoyed the variety. Nothing like sleep training a toddler in a crowded community.
Pre-Planted Gardens and Foliage. Have you ever wanted large green “flowers” in your yard? They were mystery plants for the longest time, until they bloomed into big purple pincushions the week before we moved out. But oh boy were those beauties worth the 11.5 month wait! Speaking of waiting, I think I’ll ask the next tenants to let me know if the huge tree dangling over our porch (see Scenic Laundry Experience) ever stops shedding its soul all over everything. I was in the middle of that experiment when we had to leave. My hypothesis is that it won’t, but if it ever does, it’ll be a sad, apocalyptic day for anyone who likes to keep a messy porch.
Creative Space Solutions. We had a space we affectionately called “The Tiny Basement.” It was a cupboard under the stairs that was so narrow, we found things in the back when we moved that we didn’t even recognize. It may have been a portal or something. Leaving behind such untapped creativity was hard. In a house, it’s harder to hide your junk, and far to easy to get to that random kitchen appliance you thought could live in the back of your one storage space for all it’s life.
Free Fertilizer. A dog pooped in our “front yard” a week before we moved. It’s nice to have considerate neighbors. We will miss them, whoever they were.
Long-Lasting Friendships. I will truly miss the relationship I cultivated with the WD40 that never did quite fix our kitchen sink knobs.
Nocturnal Neighbors. “Are they really remodeling in the middle of the night?” Another fun guessing game we learned this year.
Morning Wake-Up Calls. Remember how I mentioned sleep training my toddler? It was going too smoothly when suddenly the lawn care company decided to start leaf blowing the entire complex, starting with our building, at 7 AM. Thank you for keeping me on my toes! I will never forget the role you played in our lives.
There are so many more things I could list, but the nostalgia is proving too much for my fragile emotions. Three weeks removed from the move, and I can’t help but wonder: was the gain worth all that we sacrificed?
Dedicated to the 5 apartments we have lived in these past 7 years. Good riddance.
