1. Tell us about your very first apartment.
I stepped foot into my first apartment and thought pasSHAW this is FINE! I LIKE being alone.
I had never been alone. Not like this. I have two brothers and three sisters. Where I grew up there were always people. As kids, we wreaked havoc chasing each other through our home. As teens, we waved wildly at friends peeling in and out of our driveway and up and down our hill. In college, the constant traffic of those of us moving out then back in and then out again was always rotating. There was always life.
But now, in the new apartment…by myself…it felt lonely.
I tried to embrace the freedom.
I had read that people who live alone liked walking around naked so I tried that, but couldn’t quite see the appeal. I come from a modest, Catholic family and even in the confines of my apartment, I’d run as fast as I could to my bedroom to dress with the door locked.
I rode my bike to school in that valley and I’ll tell you what, the wind that got trapped down there made me irrationally angry. Wind rage. It’s real.
Everything was new…this learning to take care of myself all by myself. Even when I was sick I had to fend for myself. One day I woke up with a fever of 98.6. I had to go to school. There was too much I couldn’t miss. I slowly trudged to class and let my professors know I was ill, “I’m pretty much burning up…98.6” I managed to squeak out. The look on my professor’s face made me look into my fever and I learned that 98.6 was a normal temperature.
Fighting loneliness, wind, and a 98.6-degree temperature was enough for me to realize I was not meant for living alone. I imagined myself an old lady there. Locals would shake their heads passing me in their cars as I threw punches at the wind yelling “STOP KNOCKING ME OFF MY BIKE CAN’T YOU SEE I’M SICK!?!”
And I’d wake up “sick” every. single. day. but forge ahead. Because I’m a fighter.
And every single day I would come back to my apartment and think pasSHAW this is FINE! I LIKE being alone.
Now it’s your turn!
Choose a prompt, post it on your blog, and come back to add your name to the link list below. Be sure to sign up with the actual post URL and not just your basic blog URL (click on the title of your post for that URL). For good comment karma try to comment on the three blogs above your name!!
The Prompts:
1. Tell us about your very first apartment.
2. Write about a time a sibling embarrassed you.
3. Write a blog post inspired by the word: deep.
4. Write a list of 7 pet peeves.
5. Book review time! What winter read has you snuggled in and turning pages?
6. Tell us about the last package you received in the mail.
Astrid says
I applaud you for having fought through! I never made it. I hate being alone and am not afraid to admit it.
Mama Kat says
I only lasted a year. The following year I had a roommate and a cat. The cat was the best decision ever, the roommate stopped speaking to me when she graduated. I guess she wasn’t pleased that when she moved out early (but was still paying her share) my best friend slept in her room. Oops!
John Holton says
So you lived upstairs from a tavern? That’s convenient! I’d loved to have lived there.
Mama Kat says
Funny you should mention that, I am constantly saying how fun it would be to live upstairs from a little restaurant or something down on main street. I would plop myself in front of a window and be perfectly happy all day there.
Patty Sparano says
There is one thing I can do, better than most…and that’s…be alone. Call it a benefit (in some way) of being an only child.
I like my alone time, my “me” time. Me, myself and I, well, we get along fairly well. But, I also enjoy being with people and I do like company…on my terms. Now that The Husband is semi-retired, it’s an entirely new ball game. He’s around, a great deal of the time after not r e a l l y being underfoot for almost 50 years of marriage. A big adjustment.
That’s why I still work and, hopefully, will continue until I’m carried away, kicking and screaming.
Mama Kat says
There is some truth to what you’re saying about having the husband home full time. When Pat takes vacation from work I find he really cramps my style after a few days. ;) I mean I LOVE him, but he definitely chews too loud.
abby says
How adventurous! You’ve made me realize that I’ve never lived alone. Always had roommates or family. Now I wonder – what if I had a 98.6 fever?!