my mother has been collecting items “for my first apartment” since elementary school. the daughter of a near-professional pack-rat, my mom is definitely not a hoarder in general, but somehow hoarding for others is perfectly acceptable: observe, her garage increasingly filled with cardboard boxes labeled “for jenna’s apt.” every so often i’ll get a call detailing her latest addition to my ad hoc hope chest, “i just bought something for your apartment. it’s an antique headboard/10x10-foot-rug/woven navajo basket/etc/etc.”
i'm now on my third grownup apartment, so the term is used a little loosely, but the idea is that someday i'll live close enough to home to reclaim the growing stash. this weekend my mom acquired, in the name of “my first apartment,” a set of champagne glasses and a giant terrarium jar.
as cliche as it sounds, it makes me feel like i'm waiting for my "real life" to start. the real life where i have complete sets of dishes and cupboards to fit them in. the real life that comes equipped with a car for shifting pieces of furniture too heavy to carry up and down sixth-floor walk ups. the real life with rooms big enough to house even one of the kilims i brought back from turkey.
insert lesson about recognizing the joy in everyday moments, making myself at home in my actual, nine-to-five itty-bitty apartment clogged sink renter’s agreement et cetera life.
but you know. and i know. it’s just life. good with bad/happy sad. and all that. that’s enough. either way, i can sleep peacefully in the knowledge that when my real life actually does begin, i'll be outfitted with more dishes than I could ever really have room to store, enough rugs to carpet a barn, and a literal garage-full of furniture. plus, champagne glasses
6 comments:
It's actually quite sweet. I just hope she's OK if you pass on some items.
Cheers!
theres a book- and i cant remember the title but its about a girl and she moves to NYC and its all about her apartments she has lived in. I think the total was like 30 something. :) So cute your mom saves little thoughtful things- you are lucky.
have you read the book the happiness project? it might help with the real life part.. it helped me. :) its funny how you can get so much out of books.
my mom has a stash like that in her basement, filled with baby stuff and furniture and art for when me and my sisters have houses and families someday. it's nice to know it's there. although my apartment life certainly feels real enough for me for now.
My mom has all these boxes of old clothes and toys for when us kids have kids. My niece has so many vintage clothes she's inadvertently already a hipster.
I know what you mean about waiting for real life to start. I think that feeling never goes away.
i love this stashing of items--& i love that it is really a continuation, rather than a beginning-of. you are right, sometimes it feels so hard not to be waiting for that other life (real job, vanished student loans). but i am making an effort in these next months to start being more now & now & now. happy spring-ing!
i'm can smell forty from where i'm sitting and i still don't feel like i have my 'home' yet.
(when i do, however, i'll gladly house some items for you!)
xo
Post a Comment