Home >> looking out, over and back
January 10, 2009
For nearly eight years I’ve been looking out this window and watching my neighbors’ gardens grow, the leaves fall, the snow covering the roofs, the seasons…I’ve rocked two babies to sleep on countless nights while listening to trains go by, or robins singing their first notes at around 3:00 a.m., or the occasional out-of-control party from across the alley. The first garden below belongs to a master gardener who has figured out how to nurture color from April to November. The garden to the north is “Auntie Cheryl’s” and she is constantly moving plants around like furniture. One more house to the north belongs to Denise, our resident belly dancer. She has eradicated every inch of grass in exchange for a gypsy garden that grows free, dancing in the breeze with bells and beads dangling above from the trees. Her sunflowers shade the garage and smile at us every summer. Underneath this sunshine room that was first Miika’s and now belongs to Nathan, is our sunporch where we always sit for a few minutes every morning drinking coffee and bracing our selves for the day. This is a good house in a good neighborhood. The city is so unlike the “burbs” in that lives quickly mingle and tangle until they weave neatly together. It’s hard to say, “good bye” and rip our little square out of the quilt that has become so comfortable. We all have each other’s keys so we can get mail, water the plants, let the dog out, or take the turkey out of the fridge and put it in the sink full of water two days before Thanksgiving while the other (who forgot!) is at work or on vacation. We have eaten each other’s eggs in our cookies, borrowed a cup of sugar, clothed each other’s kids on muddy or snowy play days. It’s hard to leave and start writing a new chapter.
The drywall is almost all up in our apartment. Paul started painting our new kitchen today…buttery yellow. The cabinets are going in on Tuesday. It’s starting to come together…slowly. But will it be home? Time and new stories will tell.