Monday, February 12, 2018

Half a house.

When I started dating Mich I had a two bedroom across from Humboldt Park that was pretty sparsely furnished. A futon on the floor and a dresser in the bedroom, and a couch and a couple chairs in the family room (insert Marcus "family room" joke here). What you couldn't see was the second bedroom that was filled floor to ceiling with drum kits, books, CDs, records, and all kinds of other things. But I always kept the door closed. It wasn't until she moved in that she even realized there was another room and she admitted she heaved a sigh of relief.

"For the longest time I couldn't figure out how someone who was so into music and writing didn't have anything that was connected to it. I almost wondered if you were a serial killer!"

Over the years we both accumulated a lot of stuff. And when we moved into the new house we finally got rid of anything we had doubles of. Goodbye other couch. So long other kitchen table. Who needs that mattress? That sort of thing.

When we moved in the house was perfectly full. Sure, there was still a lot of stuff in boxes, but furniture-wise it was perfect.

When she moved out of the house she was totally fair and even sent me an itemized list of what she was taking. But it was still a shock to walk in the door and see that exactly half my house was gone. So many of the walls were bare too, though I did notice she decided to leave all the wedding photos up and didn't take those. That hurt more than the fact that I no longer had a dining room table.

So it appears I'm back to that spartan existence. And while I've entertained a few friends in the house I don't think it was until last week that I started to realize that if a stranger walked in here they would probably be very confused. So I've started a list. A list of things I need to start collecting to make the shell I've been living in a home again. Because Mich took the "home" part of this house with her.

In many ways, this place now looks almost exactly like that Humboldt apartment from a decade ago. Just bigger. It's time for me to change that.

No comments: