So a few hours ago we signed a lease on a cute 2-bedroom duplex on the near-east side. It was our favorite place of all the places we saw but they supposedly didn’t allow dogs. So we begged and pleaded and the owner agreed to meet our dog and promptly fell in love.
We filled out the app and crossed our fingers and toes and legs and arms and hairs. Days went by and we’d drive by the street saying, “Come on, duplex!!” I’d drive home and whine that I want to be home NOW, HERE, AT THIS LIGHT, I don’t want to have to drive across Airport, whose light timing at the intersection with MLK is some of the worst city planning I’ve seen. 5 cycles during rush hour? Really?
And then we got the word that it was ours! It’s a recently remodeled 2 bedroom, 1 bath with sage green paint in all the rooms (so no painting!), gas stove, central A/H, ceiling fans in all the rooms and (faux, I think) hardwoods. The owner lives in the front part and we’ll share a laundry room. The backyard is all gravelly landscaping with some fresh soil by the door for me to grow a tiny herb garden. The living room/kitchen is a huge open space so we’ll get to be creative with that space, maybe dividing it up, etc.
I’m SO EXCITED to get our stuff back. We go back to Houston this weekend for a quick work trip for me and I think it will be weird. I still don’t really feel any ownership in Austin, but I also don’t feel like I miss Houston, with the exception of my friends and Anvil. I’m still living out of a suitcase so I’ll just be putting different things in that suitcase when we go to Houston. And I’m so tired of the same 5 shirts I can’t even begin to express it…
They say home is where the heart is, but I am beginning to suspect that home is where you can decide that you want to wear tights and boots and can do that without running to Target. Home is where you can use that classy raincoat, find an old photo, or decide to go camping. Home is where you don’t have to do laundry every other day because you have more than 2 pairs of socks and 3 pairs of underwear. Home is where you can ride your bike to work or wear purple eyeliner or use that bath bomb you’ve been saving.
On the OTHER hand, home is also where we don’t have a TV stand because we decided we didn’t like the old one and left it by the curb. Home is where we have a 2nd bedroom but no 2nd bed. Home is where we have no desk because we sold it. Home is where we will be figuring out where to put all the books we had on the built in shelves at our old place.
And I’m looking forward to it because once we’re settled I imagine Austin will start to feel like home.
