2 posts tagged “furniture”

I had a ridiculous wrestling match with my bedroom today.  I decided to some rearranging, which is fairly limited when you're talking about a 9'x9' room containing a Queen size bed and a ridiculously large Dania dresser (I think it is supposed to accommodate two people, but I manage to keep it stuffed to overflowing). I had to do a fair amount of thinking to figure out how to choreograph this without taking everything out and putting it back in again  - which would have required moving other furniture... and that dresser is really heavy, so there was no way I was going to try to wiggle it through the door and back without several strong men to help. I'm happy with the result so far - my bed feels a bit more cozy and I can reach my reading lamp from the bed without nearly falling out. A major victory.

The first step in this 8-week apartment cleanse I'm on is doing the floors to get the lay of the land so to speak. I did 3/4 of them today, and I'll get to the living room on Tuesday. So far so good.

No, I am not pondering purpose and meaning in life at the moment.  What I'm considering is why I live in Seattle, WA, USA...

I grew up in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the land of lovely lakes and white people.  It was a no-brainer to leave asap after high school (8 days after graduation), and it was also a no-brainer to move to Seattle.  In 1990 Seattle was a Pacific Northwest mecca.  Even in Cd'A the local record store was stocking Mudhoney t-shirts. The glossy sheen of the 80's had been rubbed off in a very specific place.

I knew a bunch of kids who had run away or legitimately moved to Seattle only to come back a few months later.  That wasn't going to happen to me.  I qualified for loads of financial aid and completed a 2-year degree at the Art Institute of Seattle.  By then I was living with my first love and our kitten.  I was pretty much home.

I thought I would stay in Seattle for 10 years, tops.  I have now been here for 17.  What I thought was my "starter" city has become my home town.

I've thought about leaving - usually around the time I break up with someone.  The first time I wanted to go live in Prague (in '93 who didn't?) The last time I considered Paris, NYC, San Francisco, Edinburgh.  But I didn't consider them enough to even research job options.  I'm comfortable here, and I have an inconvenient collection of furniture that I really don't want to move.

I have friends in Seattle, which is no small feat.  Anyone who has lived here will tell you: it is really hard to make friends in Seattle.  It's not that people are unfriendly, they just seem to have electric fences around their lives.

Now would be a good time to leave.  I'm not in a relationship, I'm sick of my job, and I just quit drinking so I almost never see my hard-won friends.  Moving away would actually be a good kick in the pants to do something with my life. Or something else, rather.  Something that suits me better. Every time a work email comes in I have to do deep breathing exercises.

So why do I stay?  Because my couch is comfy where it is and when I go for my morning run I can see mountains in two directions.  Because I love the lack of seasons and the flowers in January. Because everything is within walking distance of my apartment - work, groceries, pharmacy, restaurants, coffee houses, a park.  Because I have a dysfunctional co-dependent relationship with my workplace.  Because I'm used to it here, and I know all the sneaky routes to avoid traffic.  Because I can be in the wilderness in less than an hour.

There's no reason to stay, but there's also no reason to leave.  Maybe I need to find a reason to decide.