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August 2, 2008
A New Home
I moved into a new apartment yesterday. More importantly, I was reminded throughout the day of what happened one year ago as my brother and I were driving into Minnesota from New York with a minivan full of all my worldly possessions. On that same day, August 1st, 2007, the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed and Minnesota marked the one year anniversary of that tragedy yesterday as the new bridge nears completion.
When I moved here last year I didn't have much time to find an apartment so I ended up in a less than ideal studio in St. Paul a few blocks from the Cathedral. As I wrote at the time, the location was amazing. The apartment was the opposite. Every window in the place looked out at the identical building next door and I couldn't even see the sky. The charm of living in an old (early 1900s) building wore off quickly and the claw-foot tub turned out to be annoying rather than neat.
Yesterday I moved into a bigger and better apartment. It's in a modern building with brand new carpet, a new kitchen floor, air conditioning and, most importantly, it has a bedroom. No more studios for me, ever. It's in a fairly residential area but is close to the shops and restaurants of Grand Ave. I'll now be commuting to work via my own two feet every single day while my car sits in a garage with a tank of gas that will probably last a month, if not longer. I face the rear of the building and look out at the garages but there are lots of trees behind them which is nice. When I woke up this morning I could see blue sky out the window and could hear birds chirping which made me smile. Beyond the trees is a road so I hear a bit of swishing from cars passing but that doesn't bother me. There are also train tracks next to the road but as everyone knows, I love trains, so I find the thrum of diesel engines to be rather pleasant.
Of course there are a few downsides. I am above the laundry room and can sometimes hear the spin cycle on the washers. And since this is an apartment, I do sometimes hear noises in the hallway or a bit of creaking from the person above me. But I expect I'll quickly get used to these noises, just as I got used to the sirens and street noises when I lived in New York City.
I set up the kitchen yesterday with a little help but there is much more work to do over the next few days. Time to get back to unpacking.
Posted on August 2, 2008 at 11:50 AM
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