Monday, October 13, 2008

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now

I recently decided to end my lease at my upscale downtown high-rise apartment. Ok, so it’s really just a dumpy little efficiency but I’ve lived here for 3 ½ years now and I consider it home. I thought this place was the coolest when I first moved in. It was my first time living on my own. I know that’s probably odd since I was 37 years old at the time but it was exciting and my big adventure. So now my apartment is a total mess while I decide what I absolutely can’t do without and what I would rather give away than have to carry down 3 flights of stairs and possibly up some stairs to wherever I move. It’s funny that I'm usually very clean but I really don't care that my apartment is a total mess right now since I look at it as a transition phase and I know it’s only temporary. When I was deciding if I should stay or go there was no clear winner. It wasn't like I found a beautiful place for half the price. That Sheryl Crow song just came to mind and I decided “a change would do me good”. The sad part is I don’t even know where I’m going yet and its only 3 weeks away! And instead of packing and looking I decided it was more important to blog tonight.

I know I will miss a lot of things about this place like the “take it table” downstairs. If you have something you don’t want anymore you can just leave it on the table for someone else. I’ve gotten some really cool stuff from it. Plus there was that time my friends walked me home after a night of drinking and my girl friend jumped on the table and her boyfriend “took” her. Don’t worry it was only “G” rated but it was funny and one of many good memories. Then there was the “happy birthday” time where we just decided to sing happy birthday to everyone who came downstairs. Somehow that made everyone smile. I also have to mention the time several friends came over to party. I think that was a record for the amount of people that could fit in the apartment and boy do we have some fun pictures from that night!

I’m sure some things will be better at a new place like hopefully I won’t have to put up with kids partying on my fire escape at 3 am on a school night but I'm sure there will be some things worse in the new place. The lesson I've learned lately is that everything seems to be tradeoffs. Some things get better and others stay the same or get worse. It's all shades of grey. So mostly I just decided to take a chance and not get too set in a rut. As long as I am renting I want to move every year just so I can try different things and see what I like. So I will be throwing out as much junk as I can and living like a minimalist so I can easily pick up and move again. This is not exactly where I thought I would be at 40 years old but it’s not all bad. I'm not worrying, I'm just taking it one day at a time. I have to go now so I can get packing and plan my big moving out party!!!!

Cat "Moving on Up" Cathy

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