TheBanyanTree: Magic

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Joe’s new apartment is wonderful.  It will be a good change for him.  He has
underground parking with a car wash area.  He is also renting extra storage
in the garage for $20 a month.

His apartment has an open kitchen, dining, and living area.  The kitchen is
HUGE, as big as mine, with a nice island seating area.  He has a small
balcony, too.

And the closet space is massive.  I think he has at least three walk-in
closets.  His bathroom has a shower, the kind you can wheel into if you
can’t walk or stand, but no tub.  He has a small laundry area if he wants to
get his own washer/dryer combo, otherwise there’s a nice laundry room on
each floor.

The bedrooms aren’t large, but they have very large closets.  He’s going to
use one bedroom for an office.

There are community areas, a party area, pool table, ping pong table, a
large picnic and grill area, plus a TV room.  There’s an exercise facility
with treadmills and such.  There is also an outdoor pool.

I met several of his new neighbors.  They’re all very friendly.

He’s going to be paying two rents for March and April, but he can afford it.
It will let him move out of his current apartment in a slow, unhurried
manor.

Ray wanted to look at 55+ housing a few years back, but we both decided we
like the house thing better.  I’ve lived in apartments and town homes, and
as much as owning a home can be an expensive hassle if something breaks or
keeping with up the maintenance, I still like the separateness of my home.

My home has its own little space I don’t have to share.  I have my own yard,
my own driveway and garage, and I don’t hear any noise from other people
tromping around above or below me.  I hated hearing loud stereos and
neighbors fighting and neighbors having sex when I lived in apartments and
townhomes.

When Ray and I were looking for houses in 2005-2006, we only briefly looked
at condos or townhomes.  We decided we preferred houses and I still do.  I’m
not ready yet to move into a townhome or apartment.  Perhaps someday.  I’d
still like to stay in this house for at least 10 years.  Maybe by then the
real estate market will come back and my house will be worth something
again.

After we were done looking at Joe’s apartment, Joe decided to go to the
cemetery.  It was dark and the full moon was rising in the sky.  I told him
that I thought the cemetery closed at 5:00 pm.  But Joe said they didn’t
close the gates, because of the snow.

So we followed the full moon to the cemetery and we drove by Alice’s grave
and then by Ray’s grave.

And by the light of the moon, as we were driving out, we saw two does,
standing tall and alert among the graves.  They were staring at us like how
dare we come into their area.  It was beautiful and magical to see the deer
in the moonlight.

Of course, I didn’t have my camera with me.

I went to workout this morning, still crowded, but not as much as before.
The January resolutions people are beginning to drop out.  I sat in the hot
and steamy sauna, my favorite thing to do.

Then I drove out to the cemetery for the third time this week.  The
moonlight magic was gone, replaced by the late winter sun and furiously
melting snow.  A south breeze blew across the graves and it felt good to be
standing in the sunshine talking to Ray.

Now it’s back to reality and I’m going to spend the rest of this afternoon
doing my taxes.  I’ll need a little magic to see if I can get a refund.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com
www.polarispublications.com
www.linkedin.com/in/margaretkramer

Love is a symbol of eternity.  It wipes out all sense of time, destroying
all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end. 
-Unknown