Dear readers- I apologize for my little hiatus, but as you read this, I hope you will understand that the last couple months have been a bit chaotic and forgive me...
6 years ago, I packed up my life and made the move from NYC/NJ to VA/DC. I had been in the NY/NJ area for almost 10 years, and this move took me away from my nearest and dearest friends into a city where I knew all of 2 people and would be starting a job in a brand new industry. I was excited for the change, but obviously overwhelmed and terrified. My last apartment in NY was a 600 sq. foot 2 bedroom/1 bath and cost $1600 a month in rent. In VA, I moved into a 1200 sq. foot, 2-bedroom/2 bath apartment that had a balcony - it was like moving into a palace. There was central a/c, a dishwasher, and laundry, gym, and extra storage in the basement. All this and a top floor unit for under $1600. The only downside, was that it was a bit of a hike to the metro, but I quickly learned that this just gave me time to chat with my parents in the morning, call the friends i was dearly missing on my way home, or have some time to shake off a bad day. Plus it gave me time to enjoy all those trees that I had been telling everyone all about. On top of all of this, we were just a $10 cab ride away from Old Town, VA - which is a beautiful little waterfront town with fantastic shops and restaurants and the best speakeasy in the DMV. It was a unicorn apartment and for 6-years it was home.
But all things must come to an end, and with the promotion last year that lovely commute got to be a bit much and the time had come to make the move. On April 15, the movers came and packed up the boxes and took to my new digs in Arlington. The lead up to the move was more emotional than I could have anticipated. I knew it was going to be hard, moving is a ton of work and i had been in my place for a long time, but I wasn't prepared for the emotional journey. I started packing 6-weeks out, because in the way of big life moments this one came in the midst of busy season and the middle of a spat of travel. As I started boxing up my life I realized how much had actually happened in this apartment and how much I had grown in my time year. Those 4-walls watched me have some of my highest highs and lowest lows. This was where I cried when my Grandma passed, where I celebrated the birth of my best friend's first born, where I made a home for myself away from my closest friends and family and fell in love with this little pocket of the world. This is where I realized that the dreams of my starry eyed youth were not the dreams of my adult life and where I really wanted to go in my life. This was the longest I had lived somewhere in my adult life and the move had become a bittersweet farewell to this period of my life. As I boxed up the heartbreaks and heartaches, the laughter, tears, and screams - I realized how many mementos those 1200 sq. feet had accumulated. I was able to throw out a lot of memories that I outgrew and remember ones that had long been pushed to the back of the closet. And when the time came, I was ready for that moving truck to pull up.
It has been almost a month now, and it is still weird to get home in under 30 minutes and to walk in and only have the cat talking to me. In some ways, I miss those 4-walls with a strength that breaks my heart a little. But at the same time I look at these 4 new walls and can only think - what will they see over the next 6-years.
