Hello everyone!
It’s been a hot minute since my last post. There’re a few things that are different now, so I’m going to be making several smaller posts.
First thing’s first – I moved… again.
One of my roommates, Jazz, and I moved over to Arlington together. It isn’t too far away from my job, nor from his, but it can get a bit frustrating when your supposed half hour drive turns into over an hour by 8am. The bathroom is also a bit weird. The toilet is sandwiched between the sink and the wall as though it was put there as an “oopsie, we forgot something important” afterthought.
Still, the apartment we have is actually pretty great! It’s a nice two bedroom apartment house with only one other apartment above ours. We get two parking spots off-street included, water included, washer and dryer hook-ups, and we’re allowed to have our pets with us! I’ll take the long drive to the office every morning and weird bathroom shape to keep this place for a while.
Plus, instead of having a third roommate who seemed to think he should’ve had full control over the communal areas, i.e. living room, kitchen, porch, etc, and not even like the idea of using the kitchen table and chairs without his permission (don’t even get me started on this!) it’s just the two of us living in peace and quiet. We actually enjoy each other’s company, plus we trust another to take care of our pets together. We have routines (at least, some semblance of a routine) that cohabit harmoniously, and we don’t feel as though we need to explain ourselves every time we want to use the kitchen, living room, dining room, etc.
We even have better dining room furniture. Though, it has been hard to break the habit of sitting on my bed and eating my breakfast there instead of the table like a normal person. Even harder to break that habit of your cat demanding to eat her breakfast in your bedroom instead of a nice safe little eating nook you created for her. Still, it’s there if we ever feel compelled to attempt normal eating habits.
I know it’s too early to say this, and I don’t want to create any Cosmic/Celestial Chaos fodder, but I truly would like to stay in this apartment for at least two years, maybe three. Ever since I moved to Massachusetts back in October 2020, I’ve noticed I’ve never lived in a place for more than one year. I lived in Medford from October ‘20 to June ‘21 because of unruly (and downright dangerous) roommates, lived in Cambridge until July ‘22, and now I’m living here. I still haven’t even unpacked fully yet, somehow deep down expecting some sort of outside force snickering in the dark and telling me I can’t live here anymore.
I hate moving. It disrupts my work flow, my home flow, and my personal flow. It means having to put extra energy in finding a place that is not only safe for me, but safe for Spooky too. It’s a dream of mine to have a house of my own, some place that isn’t too far away from MIT, yet is someplace where I can be surrounded by nature. Some place where I won’t be forced to move away and find a brand new place to hang my shower towel every twelve months. I feel the most at peace when I’m in nature. It’s where life makes sense. I realize now that the stable environment I had growing up, not having to move around constantly and take special care of my still-developing roots, was truly a blessing.
I get wanting to travel the world and see how beautiful and enchanting everything is. I get the feeling of being bitten by the Wanderlust Bug and having that urge to explore this ever-changing world we live in. But I also want to have a home to come back to. A place where I can call my base, my sacred space, my sanctuary.
I say all the more power to those who want to live in a van all the time. If you’ve got the mentality for it, I say go for it! That isn’t me though. I need a place to put my stuff and a place where I can sleep and not have half of my body be on constant alert.
I’m hoping, and praying, that I’m able to push myself forward and actually take the steps to make my way toward that dream home of mine in the next couple years. If I can just change the mentality of “I’m jinxing myself” to “I’m manifesting that home into reality”, then it’ll all work itself out.
It has to, right?
L.J. LaBree 