"This is it." says Sam. "If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been."
That's how I felt a little more than a week ago as I drove across the border from DuPage County to Cook County and my new abode. (Ok, I don't know where the actual border is, but I was thinking this around Lake Street. Just go with it).
For the first time in my adult life, (other than my semester in D.C.) I am living outside of DuPage County. I have moved 8 times in the last 8 years, but this is the first time I'm moving to really unfamiliar territory. I don't know where anything is and everyone feels far away. Even though my family is still only about 20-25 minutes away.
The move itself was horrible. Everything seemed to go wrong. I'm not going to go into details because that's not what I want to focus on. But if you want the whole story, just let me know. I'd be happy to share.
So everything was going wrong. Things were breaking and I was amassing gift cards from incompetent companies at an alarming rate. And it was a big change.
I don't do well with change. I knew that I was going to be depressed but with everything that was going on, it was just that much harder. I'm still not quite to the place where I'm sure it was the right idea. I'll get there.
One thing that I noticed was that every time I started to feel excited about something, I was pushing those feelings down. Be careful, you can't feel too excited because you might get disappointed. Wait, what? I'm not allowing myself to feel excited because it might not turn out right? I realized that because of other disappointments in my life, mainly relationships and work stuff, I wasn't allowing myself to get too excited. Because if I did and something went wrong, then it would be too hard to handle.
Whoa.
Talk about self-revelation. When did I start doing this? That is so not cool. I should feel excited about this move, this new adventure in my life. So, in an effort to focus on the exciting and awesome things about my move instead of all the horrible things that have gone wrong, I made this list of things that I love about my new place.
For the first time in my adult life, (other than my semester in D.C.) I am living outside of DuPage County. I have moved 8 times in the last 8 years, but this is the first time I'm moving to really unfamiliar territory. I don't know where anything is and everyone feels far away. Even though my family is still only about 20-25 minutes away.
The move itself was horrible. Everything seemed to go wrong. I'm not going to go into details because that's not what I want to focus on. But if you want the whole story, just let me know. I'd be happy to share.
So everything was going wrong. Things were breaking and I was amassing gift cards from incompetent companies at an alarming rate. And it was a big change.
I don't do well with change. I knew that I was going to be depressed but with everything that was going on, it was just that much harder. I'm still not quite to the place where I'm sure it was the right idea. I'll get there.
One thing that I noticed was that every time I started to feel excited about something, I was pushing those feelings down. Be careful, you can't feel too excited because you might get disappointed. Wait, what? I'm not allowing myself to feel excited because it might not turn out right? I realized that because of other disappointments in my life, mainly relationships and work stuff, I wasn't allowing myself to get too excited. Because if I did and something went wrong, then it would be too hard to handle.
Whoa.
Talk about self-revelation. When did I start doing this? That is so not cool. I should feel excited about this move, this new adventure in my life. So, in an effort to focus on the exciting and awesome things about my move instead of all the horrible things that have gone wrong, I made this list of things that I love about my new place.
Things I LOVE About My New Place
(in no particular order)
1. I have a garage.
2. I can drink the water out of my faucet.
3. Speaking of water, I have an ice machine that actually works.
4. More cabinet space in the kitchen.
5. Storage space in the garage.
6. No bugs of any kind, including spiders, wasps, flies or those black and red bugs.
7. I control the heat/air conditioning, so it's no longer 80 degrees in my apartment.
8. I can open a window. In fact, I'm pretty sure all of my windows will open and the screens are all intact!
9. I can park my car in the garage.
10. My brand new Darcy couch. (I didn't make that up, it's actually called the Darcy).
11. I can take a shower without worrying about my hair turning orange.
12. The water actually washes off the soap.
13. I have a dishwasher.
14. I have a garbage disposal. (And if you are confused as to why this is amazing, try throwing all of your leftover food and crumbs in your garbage and see how long you can stand it).
15. I have a washing machine and dryer that I can actually use without it turning my clothes orange. Which means I don't have to bring my whites to my parents any more.
16. I can leave my house after 8 and still get to work on time.
17. Did I mention that I have a garage now? That is large enough to store my bike?
18. The Schaumburg Library. Only five minutes away. It looks like a mall inside. Seriously crazy.
19. I live five minutes away from everything. I mean it, JoAnns, Walmart, Target, Jewel, Walgreens, every restaurant ever, and every store that you always need to buy wedding/baby shower gifts from but they are too far away, Woodfield Mall, Menards, Ikea, etc. (Ok, so it's not five minutes, but still. I live near everything! (Except Aldi, which is a bummer). As opposed to my previous place where I lived in a forest preserve. Which was nice. But far away from everything.
20. Apparently this is THE spot for pizza places. And they are all within five minutes of each other. That's a Lou Malnati's (actually 2 of them), Giordano's, Papa John's, Little Caesars, Pizza Hut, Little Sicily, and a few others that I can't remember right now.
21. I live near the park district indoor pool, so I can go swim laps in the mornings (in theory).
22. I get home by 5 p.m.
23. I don't have to scrape my car off in the morning.
24. No leaking ceilings!
I'm sure there are more, but that's what I came up with off the top of my head.
There are a few things that I will miss about my old place, like the view on my old street.
2. I can drink the water out of my faucet.
3. Speaking of water, I have an ice machine that actually works.
4. More cabinet space in the kitchen.
5. Storage space in the garage.
6. No bugs of any kind, including spiders, wasps, flies or those black and red bugs.
7. I control the heat/air conditioning, so it's no longer 80 degrees in my apartment.
8. I can open a window. In fact, I'm pretty sure all of my windows will open and the screens are all intact!
9. I can park my car in the garage.
10. My brand new Darcy couch. (I didn't make that up, it's actually called the Darcy).
11. I can take a shower without worrying about my hair turning orange.
12. The water actually washes off the soap.
13. I have a dishwasher.
14. I have a garbage disposal. (And if you are confused as to why this is amazing, try throwing all of your leftover food and crumbs in your garbage and see how long you can stand it).
15. I have a washing machine and dryer that I can actually use without it turning my clothes orange. Which means I don't have to bring my whites to my parents any more.
16. I can leave my house after 8 and still get to work on time.
17. Did I mention that I have a garage now? That is large enough to store my bike?
18. The Schaumburg Library. Only five minutes away. It looks like a mall inside. Seriously crazy.
19. I live five minutes away from everything. I mean it, JoAnns, Walmart, Target, Jewel, Walgreens, every restaurant ever, and every store that you always need to buy wedding/baby shower gifts from but they are too far away, Woodfield Mall, Menards, Ikea, etc. (Ok, so it's not five minutes, but still. I live near everything! (Except Aldi, which is a bummer). As opposed to my previous place where I lived in a forest preserve. Which was nice. But far away from everything.
20. Apparently this is THE spot for pizza places. And they are all within five minutes of each other. That's a Lou Malnati's (actually 2 of them), Giordano's, Papa John's, Little Caesars, Pizza Hut, Little Sicily, and a few others that I can't remember right now.
21. I live near the park district indoor pool, so I can go swim laps in the mornings (in theory).
22. I get home by 5 p.m.
23. I don't have to scrape my car off in the morning.
24. No leaking ceilings!
I'm sure there are more, but that's what I came up with off the top of my head.
There are a few things that I will miss about my old place, like the view on my old street.
The pictures don't do it justice.
I also have to mention my family. Because without them, I'd probably be a puddle of tears right now. They have all helped me so much, both with the physical move (and fixing all of my broken stuff) and with my emotional well-being. I don't know what I would have done without them.
So, although it's a dangerous business going out your door, I'm on a new adventure. And hopefully my house will be fully unpacked before it's time to put up Christmas decorations.
So, although it's a dangerous business going out your door, I'm on a new adventure. And hopefully my house will be fully unpacked before it's time to put up Christmas decorations.