There
are a million nooks and crannies in the world.
There are caves and alleyways, cubbies and caverns, causeways and cairns
The
first place I ever lived that wasn’t away at school was a tiny apartment in a
huge concrete complex. The rent was too
high, and nothing that I needed was in walking distance. There was also plenty of crime. I literally walked through a drug deal on my
way home one August night. (It turned
out better than you’d think. Oddly
enough, being 6’3” and the only white person for a six block radius has
occasional advantages.)
But
there were trees there. And as a man who
lived within fifteen yards of the ocean his whole life, it was an amazing
change. The wind, filtered through a
half a dozen trees a story or two below your bedroom window, brings peace and
freedom with it. There were weeks I
hated living in that place, and many things went wrong in my life while I was
there, but I can still hear that somnolent sound in my dreams some nights.
When
I moved to a suburb overrun with students, I lost that peace and quiet, but
gained access to anything I’d ever been curious about. There were more coffee shops and ethnic
restaurants in a ten minute walk from my door than made any sense. There was a used fantasy bookstore down the
street that was so crowded with wares I could barely walk down the aisles. And there were about a billion places to get a
beer. It was tough to feel tired or old
in a place like that. No matter how
awful my work schedule was or how empty my wallet, there was cheap youthful fun
close by. The energy of the neighborhood
made up for the periodic rashes of street vomit every fall. I still go to a few of those restaurants, and
lament a few that closed before they got traction.
Last
year, I lived in a small converted office building. There were twelve units on three floors, and
the renovation was as cheap as my rent.
There was no individual unit heat.
The baseboards and walls were ugly and uneven. And the kitchen was maybe three feet
square. It was cramped. My unit faced the
back of the house, so I had no view of the street.
What
I did have was a back door that opened onto a tiny deck. It was a portal to the street behind mine,
which was dull and uninteresting the first eight months I lived there. Then, the house behind mine decided to redo
their rear façade and add a large deck. They
did it themselves. And the father/tot
team took their time. The house had no
rear siding for months. But every so
often, I’d poke my head out and either watch them work, or see what had changed. It was a surreptitious show and
I had the only unofficial ticket. It was
a slow moving miracle, and I was just a little sad when the work was over.
It’s
a big crazy world out there readers.
Keep your eyes open. You might
just spy something special.
Miscellany
- This post was inspired by my move to a new apartment in advance of my wedding in May. I'm going to bang around the new place alone until after the big day. It's not fun. But it has helped me reflect on how I've had it elsewhere.
- As always, I welcome comments here, on my twitter @TheSagest, my tumblr http://kevinsmahoney77.tumblr.com/ or directly at thesagest77@gmail.com. I'm here to share my thoughts and my writing. Drop me a line if you'd like.
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