A Farewell to an Apartment

We loved you at first sight, that Saturday when we randomly bumped into you on our way from checking out your peers. We don't even believe in "love at first sight". But we thought you'd be a good catch. And you were. 1,020 days (or 2 years, 9 months, and 15 days) later though, we must bid you farewell. That's about 92% of our entire married life. "If walls could talk ...", right? No! You were our first real home though, a manifestation of "leaving father and mother ..." unto our own devices. We had never known 950 square feet could be so cozy and befitting.

We loved how quickly problems were taken care of. The water heater ignition should probably be replaced soon. 6 visits in winter is a hint. We loved how convenient it is to have a washer and dryer right in the apartment. 2 visits per week to a laundromat would probably have worn us out and forced me to buy more clothes, against my minimalist wishes. Or wear the same outfit 4 days in a row.

Like our neighbors across the street, we felt "uppity" living in a gated community (with remote open and automatic gates), although the side entrances jammed some of the times. Then you'd have to walk all the way around to enter the compound. The hot-tub and swimming pool were great, although we never used them much. Even until our last day, we were still promising ourselves to hit them up at least once a week, to make our money count. I mean, every resident pays roughly $85 per month in apartment utilities, part of which goes to keep the hot-tub at 104 degrees and swimming pool at 72 degrees all year round.

That little gym is a joke. How about get residents discounted memberships at nearby gyms? I mean, complementary memberships. Then those 3 flight of stairs would not be our only mandatory daily exercise. You pushed us into the world of home DVD fitness programs that we perhaps would not have adopted.
Additionally, we thought it was ridiculous to charge each resident $3/month for clean energy development on wind farms in Oklahoma, whose electricity we never used. Then over time, rent increase 26% to $1,200/month, our last straw. We think we loved you until it seemed like you were gold-digging. Comparatively, our new place is 3 times the size for $1,088/month. Hallelujah to that! Financial savvy says that's a good decision.

Speaking of financial decisions, you were the first big decision we ever made as a married couple: $930/month on rent was a big deal back then. You taught us what a "big financial decision" meant. The nice bed. The dining set. The living room amenities. The home office. Since each big transaction averaged around $700, we learned to call anything in that range an "investment" and prove to ourselves that we could save up for anything we needed. We had a list of savings goals on our fridge, including a plan to vacate you with 20% down-payment on the new digs. We became wise with money. The numbers show that we handled an aggregate $230,000 in business and personal transactions while in your keep. Unfortunately, we didn't get to keep most of it. Pauvre, as the French would say.

You saw 13 sets of friends and family hosted for dinner. We must re-establish the picture wall when we settle in the new place. The smoke detectors didn't always agree, but the cooking experiments were memorable and enjoyable. African. Russian. Brazilian. Spanish. Indian. You were so close to work (6 minutes by car, 21 minutes on foot) that we thought we might not absolutely need that second car. The success of that experiment encouraged us to try a few more.

We never really got to know our neighbors. In our quadrant, we had stayed the longest actually. And the meagre parking if we didn't pay extra for carports ($40/month) and garages ($70/month)? Hated having to park 2 buildings away from the one we live in. Until we gave in and got a shaded carport.

We won't miss the biennial moth visits that somehow found crevasses in our vinyl windows and got in. The Mrs. would man a bug hunt and swat every one of them. I personally didn't mind them.
Or the 3 generations of birds that hatched from the same nest right by our door. I saw nature at work, when the mother tossed out one chick because of overcrowding in the nest. The Mrs. tried to help it back into the nest, but with human scent and all, the rejection meant its demise.
Or the rumble of wind against our corner top-floor suite, literally shaking it up. Those nights we could not sleep, even with distraction background music.
Or the city noise that is living along a busy street humming with traffic well into the night. Especially when there is road work. Or the loud water-cooler right by our bedroom. It literally sounds like a flushing toilet. Wakes me up every time.
Or the four noise complaints we had received from our sometime neighbors. Because of electric drums. I really didn't care anymore after the second.

We eventually outgrew this pond. Today is our last day here. Boxes are packed, the movers have confirmed.