On the road again…

 

Well, here we are again. Moving. At this point, I’m hardly a novice at it but not a pro enough to avoid get stressed and overwhelmed. 3 years ago, I moved from Rochester NY after my divorce to Wilkes Barre PA to live with a friend in his guest room until I could get my feet back on the ground. It took 8 months to do so but I eventually found where it was I was meant to move: Beautiful, busy Lansdale, PA. Just about 45 minutes or so outside Philadelphia. Nice, beautiful. Quiet and luckily for me, my building was tucked away enough so that I’d have a lot of privacy and be able to walk to a lot of things. More on that in one second. 

Full confession: Lansdale was my FIRST solo apartment ever. At the age of 39, just two months shy of my 40th. My whole life I had lived either in my moms basement or with my now exwife Laurie, so while the divorce itself was scary and the move to Wilkes Barre was a bit excited, the move to my first actual place was the overwhelming thing. Don’t get me wrong, exciting for sure! But still certainly overwhelming. Up to this point, I had never been a very independent person who I ever expected to live on my own. Usually, I relied on someone else to live with or, yes even make some decisions for me. My confidence in my own independence and even my own intelligence wasn’t exactly up to par enough for me to live on my own, despite my desire to do so for many years in my 20s but being on my own now? Whew brother. This was going to be a big step for me but one that I was very excited about. And more importantly, I was finally READY to do so. I was prepared to do the starving artist thing so to speak. I knew it would be a huge adjustment in terms of spending habits, routine, environment and even dealing with my own eccentricities and neurosis. But if there was a time to bet on myself, it was now. Plus, in addition about a million other goals, I had wanted to be moved in before that years Summerslam so I could watch in the comfort of my own place. 

So June 28th 2023 was my first official move in date. It hadn’t been too long after the apartment viewing, (maybe 2-3 weeks?) and quite frankly my friends guest bedroom was a 8x10 guest room. I’ve seen utility closets bigger than this but it’s what I needed post divorce. It was a queen sized bed, a small tv, my iPad, some of my movies, my My Pet Monster and my clothes. While I joke about the size of the room itself, to have a friend help me out in that scenario is something I’m forever grateful and I’ll never ever stop thanking him, his wife, his daughter and their cats and dog for.

So naturally I wanted to get out as quickly as possible and move in sooner than later. The landlord agreed to let me move in early even if a few things hadn’t been replace for renovated. Which I’m sure isn’t how most operate but he could tell my desire to move was genuine. Plus my credit score wasn’t bad so that helped too. If I had waited a few days, I’m sure he would’ve fixed a few things but I just wanted my own place and to sleep in my own bed. Albeit for the first few weeks it was an air mattress but it was still mine.

…well until I returned it to WalMart. 

The significance of moving on or by June 28 was also important to me. Exactly one year before on that date is when Laurie and I had to unpleasant task of putting our beautiful and perfect rabbit Penelope Jane (Punky Bunster) down due to stomach blockage. The same fate that claimed our beloved Olive years prior. It was a devastating and heartbreaking decision and loss. And one that still sticks with me to this day and I never have forgotten her. She still has my heart.

So to move in and start my new life on June 28th 2023 was a big deal to me. It had been a year of ups and downs, trial and error and a lot of experimenting. And once I moved in, everything else followed. I finally got a new rabbit that I could take care of myself, I started dating again, I had a new area to explore and go on adventures and best of all: LOTS OF THRIFT STORES!

My favorite aspect of town though, was that my apartment was right off Main Street. Nothing too fancy but still a Main Street that I could to walk over to. That was very appealing to me. Growing up in Davidsonville, MD for the first 30 years of my life, it was very rural and away from a lot of what I called “actual civilization”. There was a post office, a gas stations, a school, a deli, some churches, a garden nursery known for their extravagant Christmas setups, and…that’s it. Oh and CORN. Lots of corn. Corn is always interesting in Davidsonville. Nothing exciting ever happened and as a kid, I always knew I didn’t belong there so I always wanted to live somewhere that was close to things, somewhere I had the ability to be active and have fun and even engage in arts and hobbies. Davidsonville wasn’t it. It’s certainly not New York City. Hell, it isn’t even Newark, NJ. So when I found my current apartment, I knew I would finally start to feel comfortable quickly. I could literally walk right up Main Street to a comic store, Classic Game Junkie (a new and used game store), Philly Pretzel Factory and eventually down the road, I’d find a 7-11. Now, all those things would’ve excited me at age 15, so you know darn well they would excite me at age 39 as well! Rochester was great to live in and learn about the real world but we lived in 4 different places in my 11 years up there and sometimes our apartments often precluded us from walking too far to things. Now though, I had the chance to put my earbuds in, put my worn out Converse on, put my Sycho Sid tank top on, and go out and walk my butt all across town. It was a beautiful experience and brought me a lot of joy. Something that in two years I never took for granted. 

I’m kind of envious of whoever gets to move in to my place after me. Will they share the same child-like enthusiasm I shared for this apartment? Will they love waking up, sitting outside on the old, rusty and worn out fire escape like I did in my Nightmare on Elm Street hoodie and pajamas and watch trains come in at 10:30 pm on a brisk fall night? Will they walk over to the game store and reminisce as they flip through old, used copies of NES games before heading over to grab a pretzel?

Well, I guess I’ll never know and that’s ok. I just hope whoever comes next has a great adventure just like I did.

Oh yes, speaking of adventures, the first time I visited Classic Game Junkie, I found a copy of ET. Yes THAT game. My inner Angry Video Game Nerd instantly erupted in laughter. 

This is my final week here in town and I’m sure the emotions will be at an all time high. But…I’m excited. As stressed as I am, I’m looking forward to where I go to next. But where am I moving to next? Stay tuned to this blog, more on that later. I got boxes to tape up, a rabbit to feed and a nice soft pretzel to eat!

-Chad