I found my new home!

October of 2012 my home of more than five years was sold away to a very nice family necessitating the migration of Pooch, myself, and my four roommates.  Luckily, after a very stressful search and exhausting few months, I found the perfect apartment.  It happened quite serendipitously.   

I had just put a deposit down on a friend of a friend's basement studio which was charming, but a basement with low ceiling nonetheless.  I was feeling very conflicted about the impending move because I couldn't afford what I really wanted...or so it seemed.  One week before moving my stuff to the new house, I went for a run to release some pre-moving day stress and found myself heading down a dead-end toward a park I had never seen before.  At the very end of the dead-end lay a quaint, brick apartment building with just five or six units.  The sixth unit, on the park-side, was surrounded by giant trees and grass and had a beaming window facing my way that said "For Rent" with a phone number scrawled in black marker.  These days, inner SE Portland is so popular, managers almost never make it to the point of putting up For Rent signs and so I was struck with surprise and suspicion.  I stood there staring at the giant window's sign and fantasized about what it would be like to live in this beautiful park-side apartment.  I knew it was hundreds more per month than I could afford and so I didn't worry too much that I had no pen or paper on which to record the number.  

I continued with my run and set the fantasy aside, but three days later, I was still thinking about the place, wondering what it looked like from the inside out.  I decided to drive by and give the number a call.  

As if by magic, it was exactly what I could afford and the Property Manager told me that this was the longest any unit had remained vacant in over 50 years of her family owning the building.  She was mystified, but I was quickly realizing that the place was waiting for me.  Three days later, I was moving in and I love my apartment to this day!  

The park is my back-yard and I often awake to little league games off in the distance, playful dogs, and kids running around.  I was prepared for noise issues, but generally the sounds are so joyful and fun, they only bring me happiness.  I even have a concrete landing out back upon which I have trained myself to container garden, spend my slow morning breakfasts, and from which I often watch the sun set.

Almost every unit here has a cat or two and miraculously, all our feline friends get along.  I don't know if it's the park, the simple neighborhood, my wonderful neighbors, or if it's just the peaceful nature of a dead-end, but Pooch and I are quite content.