One Year

On June 26, 2010, I woke up in my small 2 bedroom apartment at The Viking. For the 5 years we lived there, we occupied the corner apartment on the second floor- Apt. 206. The two glass panes all the way to the left on the second row up were the wall to the 2nd bedroom (the room that became Sophia's room).

It was an old apartment. Some called it a dump. I liked to say it had "old world charm". The floor wasn't level and dipped down the closer you got to the windows. It was BEYOND hot during summer temperatures. The windows didn't open properly. The oven was a fourth the size of a normal oven. Paint was peeling on every wall. The front door had a gap and a completely see through peep hole. There was no garbage disposable. It had to be treated for termites twice during the time we lived there. The kitchen "tiles" were permanently stained with dirt. The walls were as thin as paper. And those curtains...floor to ceiling draped nasty curtains that probably hadn't been cleaned for years before we moved in and were never cleaned in the 5 years we lived there...but oh the rent and the location. Neither could be beat.

I grew to love that little crazy nasty hole of a place. Over 5 years it held so very many memories and special times. (Even as I look at the picture now, my heart aches just a bit because a little part of me would still want to go back and live there again.) And so when I woke up on June 26th and walked out the door for the last time, I felt my heart breaking as I left my little Viking.

I hopped in the car with my daughter, my pregnant belly and my parents; and one VERY long car ride later, I pulled up here:

This was our house 1 year ago.
And this is our house today:

In some ways not much has changed. In other ways, everything has changed. We had no idea really what we were getting into when we moved. We hoped it would be good. It turned out to be great.

How did so much happen in one year...and yet go by so quickly?