I had a feeling when I wrote this blog… That one’s for my RCPM friends. If you’re not on that boat yet, what in the world are you waiting for? http://azpeacemakers.com Do it.
I’ve been thinking a lot about feelings lately. Maybe it’s that I’m in a new place meeting new people and experiencing new things. Or maybe it’s the phase of life when I become more in tune with myself. Either way feelings, or the lack of them, have been especially prevalent as I’ve conducted a grueling and frustrating hunt for a new home here in Denver.
Being a new city, and a pretty big one at that, the options at first seemed endless. But layer in the neighborhoods one should (or shouldn’t) live as a single female, the type of home, features, amenities, etc and the pickings get slim. So slim I thought for a minute I wasn’t going to find anything. I’d walk into houses, duplexes and apartments and think “Really? This is all I have to choose from? I’ll have to make something like this a home?” It was awful.
So I widened the net back out and all of a sudden I was re-energized. But still, the places were too small, next to less than desirable neighbors, missing this or that. In general nothing I saw over the many, many hours I spent searching online and visiting in person sung to me. Nothing took my breath away. Nothing got under my skin. Until Tuesday of last week.
On Tuesday I visited an apartment complex near downtown. Two of the things I’d originally ruled out – apartment complexes and downtown. Wider net, more options. Originally I’d gone to see a split level one-bedroom but walked out having fallen in love with an industrial loft. Just over 900 square feet of open space and pure character. Actually, I didn’t fall in love with that 900 feet, but a comparable 800 square feet and the mental picture of a place I could call home. The moment I walked into this place, previously a the administration building of a children’s hospital from the early 1900′s, now apartments with concrete floors, original tiling, exposed brick and high ceilings, each one unique, I felt it. It. The thing I’d been missing up to then. The feeling, the pull.
Previously I’d been looking for a neighborhood that felt good because I thought character had to be outside. That I would have to go outside to enjoy looking around at the things that surrounded me. Then I walked into this place and realized the walls that would make my home contained all the character in the world. Sure, the neighborhood outside those walls and windows still had to meet certain criteria, and it does, but as I reflect I feel that apartment wrapped its comforting arms around me and enveloped me in its warmth.
A home can be four walls, a place to rest your head at night, a stopping point between events, but it can also be so much more. Not only did the place make me feel warm and fuzzy but I hope that when I move in and get settled it will give my guests the same feeling. I’m happy to soon have a space to call my own, to host countless dinners, pre- or post-event drinks given its location, and to be the place friends come to feel welcome, to relax, to enjoy. As an added bonus, the locals I’ve talked to since last Tuesday all respond to my location as the next up and coming neighborhood in Denver. Just another few weeks and I’ll be home.
It doesn’t look like much with the current tenant’s sparse furnishings, but the potential is endless:
