little things i will miss about my apartment i am noticing as i pack. (originally posted 13 June 2006)

. i park in a reserved spot behind the building. when i lean forward to put on my shoes after parking at night, the yellow light from a street light shines to me through the leaves of overhanging trees. once there was a spider web in the leaves, made by a spider so big i could see it from many yards away. when it rains, the light reflects off all the droplets of water that fall on my windshield.

. my cats love chasing each other through the several big rooms, and sitting on the wide ledges of the third floor windows watching the squirrels and birds living in communities among the tall trees outside.

. we have a huge closet in our living room where we can store big boxes and winter coats and unused office chairs that we have accumulated spmehow. the litter box is also there, which means we don't have to have it in a room where living occurs.

. at night i can close my door and let the cats play outside in the rest of the apartment. max has a sparkly blue ball that she for some reason loves intensely. she will wake me up some nights talking to it. she will somehow (she never plays fetch) bring it to my door and sit in front of it begging it to throw itself. i come out and put the ball on the built in shelves in the hallway and she goes about her business as if nothing happened.

. there is so much light in our apartment. green light, since it shines through the trees. we have a screened in back porch with a rocking chair outside and when the weather is pleasant in the fall and spring we can leave the screen door and windows open and a nice breeze blows through (spreading pollen in its wake, admittedly). the cats love sitting on the porch. they spread out in the sun or lounge underneath the little table we have out there. i enjoy sitting in the rocking chair with my feet on the table and max or sam underneath.

. we have a little space behind the back door where we can keep our recycling until we find time to take it out.

. we have beautiful hardwood floors. big rooms hardwood floors = perfect linedancing conditions. mahsa has set up speakers all over the living room that we can plug our ipods into making a beautiful musical paradise.

. my bathroom has a huge pedastal sink and original black and white tiles, with a very deep porcelain tub underneath a window.

. we have a lovely walk-in pantry.

. last summer we painted the kitchen a lovely pale green. it was a lot of work and the apartment was filled with fumes for weeks, even though we left the windows open so it was hot as hades, but our kitchen looks great. it was worth the trouble. and the painting part was fun.

. mahsa.

there will be good things about the new apartment, and i look forward to finding these things out. i am pretty anxious about it, though, because my landlord kind of made it sound like we would have to kick out the current tenant on the 30th. this makes me nervous, but i'm not above doing it. i do not want to sleep on the highway.

charity :)

ps-now, off to work on my dissertation...