18 Miles Away

After several years of living in the coldest, foggiest part of San Francisco, and escalating unhappiness with my neighborhood and my downstairs neighbor (downstairs neighbor number 4, she was), DD and I were ready to move. As most people do when they are looking for an apartment, we had a "wish list" of qualities we were looking for in a new apartment. There's always the Dream List and then as you start looking for apartments you have to give on certain items on the Dream List, because you're really not going to find a place with updated kitchen appliances, a washer-dryer or washer-dryer hook ups, a parking space, an energy-efficient heater (or hell, just a heater, period), decent neighbors, a view of something interesting or pretty, or just not dumpsters or chain link fence or better yet, a wall...carpeting or floors that don't have bodily fluids in them. A sink without a chip. Caulking without mildew. Toilet without stains. Stuff like that.

One thing on our Dream List was outdoor space. Just a little wee balcony or something like that... a few feet of cement outside the door, even. A little place to put a potted plant and two chairs, a place where, hopefully, the sun's rays might hit a few days out of the summer. We weren't too hopeful about this. It was just an item on the Dream List.

Well, we found it! Our new apartment is a dream come true. It has every item on the Dream List and then some. We have a yard! And a round stone patio right outside our door, under the shade of a beautiful bay tree. We have a fig tree full of baby figs! And pink lilies, purple agapanthus, deadly nightshade and a tiny orange tree. Bees and hummingbirds. All the power lines are under the ground in our new neighborhood! The sky is beautiful at night and there are no neighbors above us or below us. Our landlords are real people, nice people, not a "property management company". I would so much rather give these people my rent money... they take care of their property and beautifully remodeled our apartment a few years ago, with quartz floors, wood beams, new cabinets, double paned windows, and skylights. I've never lived in a more beautiful space! It is truly amazing...