Sunday, February 18, 2007

House of salvation

There exists a major difference in my and Steve’s respective post-college lives: Steve is living in a house with a roommate hundreds of miles away from his parents and I have been living, on and off and on, with my parents.*

During this time, I have pretty much blamed all of my problems on the fact that I don’t have my very own space in which I can expand, get organized, and be healthy. For instance, when the payment on my credit card is late, I blame the fact that the bills come to my mother’s house and hey, I’m really only there about one-third to one-half of the week. And when I leave library books at my dad’s and get huge late fines, it’s the same reason except vice versa.

I’ll be able to do all of the following, my logic suggests, when I have a place of my own: get consistent amounts of sleep, wake up early, read lots of novels, write novels, write letters to friend I’ve pretty much neglected, eat better, save money, look more “professional” at work, complete craft projects, open the sewing machine my mom got me for Christmas two years ago, learn to cross-stitch, throw away or donate all the crap I’ve acquired, have more friends, and exercise.

I’m banking so much on the fact that I’ll soon be in my own house, that I feel like I should be worried about fulfilling all the expectations. But, and it’s not really much of a secret, I know I won’t. I know that a furnace is gonna blow and we’ll need to fork over some big cash instead of saving it for that backpacking trip through Peru. I know I’ll probably be subject to the same bouts of endurance and laziness as I am now. And I also know that I’ll probably want to stop at a coffee shop just as much as I do now, even though I’ll finally be able to have a kitchen of my own in which I can make and drink a cup of French-pressed brew.

A person’s got to have hope though, right? And if we don’t spend at least some of our time thinking about the conditions that could make us more productive and responsible and better people—no matter how realistic—we won’t really progress, will we?

I am raising my store-bought cup of coffee right now, and saying Amen.


*Hi Mom and Dad, I love you!

8 comments:

FlamingoNW said...

yeah, a room, space, home of one's own really does make a big impact on one's psyche, quality of life, peace of mind...I can attest to that, finally being settled in a home again, with all my stuff, and my cat. Mailing address, my own phone line, etc.

You will love it, and yes, the solution of one problem often opens up a whole new world of other problems, but that's progress!

whitney said...

speaking of your very own email address, send me yours!

Jackie said...

i'm proud of you for taking on such...well, an undertaking. i've been pondering the house-buying thing too, so i'm intrigued by the process. love you girl!

H-Bomb? said...

"if i wasn't so busy i'd..."

well-thought ms. arlene.

Anonymous said...

Even if you go through the occassional library late fees and bouts of laziness etc etc etc you still have a home and that's awesome. A new place to find a new groove! /cheesy

Anonymous said...

Congratulations. I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll do with the houses and the neighborhood.

Sign me up for the first group home improvement project.

Anonymous said...

I'm very glad I own my own home. The first thing I did before I moved in was re-wire the whole place, top to bottom. I was tired of living in places with 1920's electric!

If I want to move a wall, I just do it. No more landlord off-white paint. Of course, there's the snow-shoveling, the roof, the gutters, the porch . . .

It seemed when I moved in there'd be plenty of room, but I didn't buy a mansion, just a West Side double. Oh well.

Cool blog, Whitney Arlene!

whitney said...

thanks, everyone. I appreciate your thoughts and support!

The first group project will be our Painting Party. Apparently, people seem to think that they "love painting" and have volunteered in droves to help out. If you're in town, we'll send out an email...