good bye 13th st

dear apartment 4,

in the almost 2 years i lived within your old and crumbly walls, we had lots of good times. i will miss your close proximity to cheap laundry, the subway and 7-11. but in the end i just needed more space, a bathroom that could accomodate more than a standing person and a kitchen with drawers.

yesterday, it took a team of five men under and hour to remove my belongings and erase any trace that i had lived there.

those men - my dad, his business partner rocco, their employee freddy, and my brothers - then schlepped my stuff over to a new place, cleaner and newer than you, dear apartment 4, and closer to the park. its hard to imagine that the two of you are so near each other, just a few blocks away. because for me, you are worlds apart.

every apartment has quirks, but yours came to be unforgivable. my new place may have a bathroom built for a person 6 inches taller than me, but the faucet for the shower is at one end instead of the middle.

i am really enjoying my new apartment, which is the third floor of a small three-story house. its cozy, laid out well and fairly new. it may be rather narrow, but i still think this place was a good find.

there are some things, like the disproportionate size of the bedrooms and the water pressure in the shower, that are less than perfect. but after living in several apartments in boston and new york, and comparing them to the apartments of my friends, i realize that its almost impossible to find an absolutely perfect apartment, even if you want to pay an arm and a leg.

just look at carrie and big in the sex and the city movie. they found "heaven on fifth" and it still needed work on the closet and kitchen. and, i'm sorry, but can someone explain to me where the furniture was supposed to go in that master bedroom with its stunning floor to ceiling picture windows along one wall and fireplace on the other? i guess my point is that even perceived perfection is not perfect. i think that's true in more than just apartments.

i seem to have gotten off track a little bit my point is, apartment 4, you were a good place for me to live for awhile, despite your numerous shortcomings. but, it was time for me to move on.

love,
amanda

(pictures of the new place will be forthcoming)