Yesterday, Mark and I moved out of our apartment and put all our belongings in storage. The process of packing and cleaning was amazingly easy, and I kept telling our apartment how thankful I am for the memories we shared in it while I was cleaning, which filled me with wonderful feelings of love and gratitude. As I turned the lights off and we were about to walk out for the last time, I was surprised to feel tears welling up in my eyes and falling down my cheeks. This was the first apartment Mark and I chose together, the first we bought furniture for, and the first one we lived in (for a week) as a married couple. We created our websites, worked together, cooked wonderful meals, and shared daily laughs together in this apartment, and while I’m excited and happy for the next adventure in our lives, I felt emotional letting our apartment go.
Our previous apartment was a dungeon. Mark moved into it when we first started dating, and I joined him several months later. There was hardly any sunlight, the kitchen was teeny tiny, and it just didn’t feel good to me. Plus, there were two walls painted “dookie brown” that Mark and I eventually painted over a nice sky blue to lighten the place up.
We had fun redecorating the bathroom as well, which became my sanctuary. We removed the big bland wall mirror and hung an antique mirror Mark had instead, added plants and lush towels, and it looked like a cozy clean wonderful place to be. We hung candles above the bath for candlelit showers, which I enjoyed daily. Ahhh…
When we started looking for our next home, we made a list of everything we wanted (”expected”). I listed the feel I wanted to have in our new home, the abundant sunlight, large windows, balcony with a beautiful view of trees and water, a large sunny office we can share, spacious kitchen, etc. Mark and I found a gorgeous apartment complex. We visited it several times, and it seemed to be everything we wanted. However, the last time we visited, I had a different feeling. A quiet and calm knowing that we were not going to be living there. I told Mark what my intuition was telling me, and we started looking at other places.
Eventually, we found another wonderful complex that was even better than the previous one and more easily affordable. The apartments we wanted, the ones with views of the beautiful golf course behind the complex, were not available. Mark and I looked at one of the other apartments in the complex, which was also nice, but it didn’t have a view. Because it was one of the few apartments they had available, and we were really getting close to our move-out date of our other apartment, Mark suggested we go ahead and sign a lease. I told Mark that I listed my expectations of a gorgeous view out the balcony, not one that overlooked a parking lot. I told him I know my guides heard me and that the Universe is working right now to make it happen. I have learned to hold out for my ideal. Another few weeks went by and we were one week before we had to leave our old apartment. We were looking at several more complexes, and I was feeling pretty upset that we hadn’t found something yet. I suggested to Mark that we make one more stop to the apartment complex by the golf course to see if an apartment had opened up.
When we walked in to ask, the lady who was helping started to say that they didn’t expect any of the apartments we wanted to open up soon. ”Oh my gosh! This can’t be right.” She fell silent for a minute as she checked her computer. An apartment with a golf course view had opened up that morning. The man who was renting it was getting out of his lease early and had just notified them.
Mark and I loved being in that apartment. I felt safe there so quickly. It was sunny and bright, lots of beautiful trees, and we even had a view of the water. Beautiful birds and inquisitive squirrels would visit us on our balcony. I sewed my wedding dress there. So many wonderful memories.
I know that our next home will be everything we want and more as well.
Thank you, lovely apartment, for the love, sunny days, shelter, cool in the summer, and warmth in the winter. Thank you for surrounding us in beauty for the previous year of our lives.
Love,
Melanie
