Movin’ On Up (Again)

Nothing says Happy New Year like an email from your landlord that states, effective February 1, I’m going to charge you 10% more for the exactly what you got when you paid 10% less.

So… I am moving. AGAIN. Into what will be my THIRD apartment in the city. I don’t want to move. For the first time in my life, I actually don’t want to move. I don’t want to try something new just because I can. I am settled here.

But another 10% increase in rent? I already broke my un-written rent ceiling when I signed the lease to this place. So another 10% increase is just making my stomach churn.

On the other hand, I am excited for the change in scenery. Yes, even despite the fact that my current scenery – the billboard outside my bedroom window which is currently displaying Anderson Cooper on it – is rather fabulous. I’m excited for a new neighborhood. A new corner store and a new coffee shop. I’m excited for a new commute to work. And better access to public transportation. (It shouldn’t be this hard to take a bus to work during a torrential downpour!)

This apartment really has been Heaven for us the past 18 months. It started as a refuge from old habits and lifestyles that needed to be fixed. And it served us well while we figured out who we wanted to be and how we wanted to live our lives. This apartment and all that it houses has become our home. More so than any other place I have ever tried to call home. When I travel, I honestly do miss the place; and I miss the people inside it. We are our own little family…

So we will clean out the closets again. Donate what we don’t need and pack what we can’t leave behind. But we will take so much more with us than just furniture and clothes and bikes and wetsuits and golf clubs and snowboards. We will take with us memories of the 18 months during which we finally grew into the people we both want to be.