Our New Home (For Now)

Ann and Jim and Laurie threw a going away new years celebration party for us. We gathered with some of our dearest friends, reminisced and said good byes.  I had such a lump in my throat as we were about to leave the party that I could barely speak.  In my fantasy I would have given a little speech about how much they all mean to me and how I hope that they will all come to visit us in D.C. and in our post abroad, but the lump and my quivering chin prevented it.  I will miss my friends so much.

We arrived in Washington DC late on a Saturday.  The lobby of the high-rise apartment building seemed clean but very 70’s style.  It was difficult to tell if it was if it was retro or just old. We were given keys and shown to our new home on the 13^th floor.  (I didn't think any buildings had a 13th floor. Whatever happened to superstition?) The first impression, dings in the drywall, dirty carpet and terrible lighting, vertical blinds (Ugh), didn’t do much to ease my anxiety about the place.  I kept my mouth shut but worried that all of the Foreign Service housing would be shabby and second rate.  Later Bob told me that he was thinking "Oh no, what have I gotten us into?" We were tired and both knew that everything would seem better and easier to deal with in the light of day. I tried not to think about the fact that I had left a house that I adore to live for a while in a marginal apartment building.

We have always slept in a queen size bed and the king in the apartment seemed like an acre of soft comfy sleeping surface.  I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep the first night and when I did finally doze off I was frequently awakened by traffic noise punctuated by my anxiety about leaving home, being so far from my kids, leaving behind my Mom and Dad who had been my room mates or neighbors my whole life.  There were also the dogs to think and worry about.  I had left them in the capable hands of Peter who seemed like a loving guy, but would he love them and play with them like a did?  Would they miss me?  Would it bother me more if they didn’t?  At one point in the night I rolled over to cuddle up to Bob for some comfort and he wasn’t there.  I didn’t remember him getting up… Where the heck was he? When I sat up a little alarmed and saw that he was on the other half acre of the bed hidden by lofty comforters and pillows sound asleep.  Well there was my constant. He is always there, always reliable and loving and we are on this adventure together. We had both dreamed of living abroad and Bob had figured out a way to do just that. We were both excited about the unknown, guessing that where ever we end up might be really rough, but we would have each other and together we would find what was wonderful about where ever we end up.  I crawled over to the other side of the bed, curled up with Bob and finally fell into a sound sleep until morning.

The light of day revealed the Jefferson Davis Freeway at the foot of our building.  (So that’s where the traffic noise was coming from.) Across the freeway were some high-rise buildings and between two of them was a big gap through which we could see the Potomac.  If you looked north up the freeway you could see the Washington Monument perfectly framed by more buildings that make up Crystal City.  These were the views in my fantasies about living in the DC area.  We realized that our apartment hadn’t really been turned over well after the last tenants and was in need of some attention from the maintenance department.  One phone call took care of that.  The crew came in and cleaned and painted and it made all the difference.  It didn’t take care of the freeway noise though.  The building manager called one day in the first week and said that another two bedroom had become available on the other side of the building one floor up and would be happy to show it to me.  It was quieter and it was fun to see another floor plan.  I was really worried that the freeway noise was going to be a real problem for me in our original apartment.  In Corrales we had been living at the end of a little rural street next to the river.  The only traffic noise I was used to was the migratory traffic of Sand Hill Cranes and Canada geese.  After showing the apartment to Bob though, I realized that the views in our apartment were pretty spectacular and that the noise was already bothering me less that it had at first.  Our apartment was a corner apartment and was much bigger than the other.  I hemmed and hawed for one night and called the manager the next day to tell him we would stay.  By the end of the second week the traffic had ceased to be something that I even thought about.  We both enjoy the extra floor space to do Thai Chi or yoga. 

One morning while we were eating breakfast, a pair of large raptors (species unknown, sorry Dad, I didn’t have my bird book) went soaring past the window with a couple of crows dogging their tails.  They circled around for several turns before they circled out of sight above our building.  Well, it’s not the winter home of the cranes or geese but there is wild life in this place and I now feel that it is the new, if not permanent home of Bob and Joan.