Where I [would] live

Returning to live full-time in my hometown was not in my post-college graduation plans. My goal was to go to college far, far away and then stay far, far away. The ability to hop a plane and arrive 3,000 miles away in 8 - 10 hours was wonderful. For the holiday's where a lack of sufficient vacation time made traveling a bit impractical I visiting friends who became "adopted family." It was great. I could handle the two weeks of familial dysfunction and have my life of healthier choices the rest of the year. (and really... whose family isn't dysfunctional in some sense...)

Alas, over the years, I discovered the angst of always traveling over the holiday's and post-9-11 airplane travel became a nuisance. Today there are still long security lines, 1-qt bag requirements, bag checking fees and those icky full body scanners! Traveling home for Christmas 2003, I remember wishing for a Star Trek transporter. It seemed infinitely more convenient than an airplane. Not to mention I was having a quiet panic attack of airplane induced worries. At the time I was mulling over graduate school and decided I would consider schools closer to home.

Thus, I selected a graduate program that was a 15 minutes drive from my parents house. Due to my lovely cat, Sasha, living at home was not an option and probably saved my sanity! I had a cute little apartment walking distance from school, a grocery store, a Starbucks, and at least 7 restaurants/bars. Second floor. No elevator. No balcony. Shared laundry in the basement. And often groups of drunk students wandering past at 2am. In other words: a great place to live during grad school. Problems were taken care of by men in little white suits. The lawn was mown, trash picked up and the sidewalks shoveled as if by magic!

Upon graduation, I entered the working world at a job in an office Downtown. Once again, I left behind the bohemian student life. Buying a house was highly encouraged. They're a "great-investment." Everyone needs "their own piece of land." Buy now because the market is only going up. So I bought a house. One that needed TLC. And promptly discovered while all the statements above might be true, there is also the following: a house is more work than you ever imagined possible. Men in little white suits only appear when cash is waved. Mowing a lawn, taking out the trash, and shoveling sidewalks are all great exercise. A house payment also reduces flexibility in terms of location, jobs, and personal life.

There are days when I dream of returning to the great life of a renter. Problems can be solved by a phone call and don't require an outlay of cash. I dream of an apartment close to Downtown with off-street parking, a balcony where the cat can snooze and I can grow tomatoes, an in-unit washer and dryer, and a longer drive to see family. A place where I can ride my bicycle to work, the store, or just for fun. It would be a quick walk to work rain, shine or snow! And a safe loop to run during the week or weekend.

Perhaps once all the "little repairs" are completed on my house I will feel differently. I can walk 2 blocks and catch a bus to work. The nearest pizza place is a half-block away and the bar just across the street. Right now, I wish I had more flexibility for my living arrangements and less lawn to mow and less driveway to shovel.

I’m blogging along with Mathnerd today (and several times this month). Check out what she’d be!