Inspiration hits at odd times. It can strike anywhere. In this particular case I was sitting on the toilet. At 2 in the morning. But hey, what can you do? I washed my hands, and refuse to argue with my insomnia, so here I am. I realized I forgot to mention one small detail of my past weekend. Richard and I selected and bought a new bedroom set. Was it my dream furniture? No, not so much. It is really close though, and I am really excited. There will be a real dresser! In my room! (Clearly it’s the little things…)

It may seem to some that I am a bit spoiled. At least it does to Richard, who mentioned it just the other day. His reasoning was a bit different, but still. If one were to visit the homestead here at dp.com enterprises it may seem like we have a lot of stuff. Nice stuff. Let me just say it has taken us close to ten years to accumulate an entire house of furniture and accessories. Not that I feel bad about owning stuff, but it came to mind after Richard’s comment. You see it all started long, long ago. I was in my early twenties. I wore my tightest tee shirt again that day…

I moved in with Richard on Valentine’s Day. It was the Valentine’s Day directly following that 4th of July weekend where we met at that baseball game. We waited a whole 7 months, although during that time I was mostly spending all my time at his place. I had a roommate and he didn’t, so for privacy alone… It can be awkward when your roomy hears that ass slapping of new love! Anyhoo, I remember moving day as if it was yesterday. It was raining. I was very concerned about my second hand leather couches getting wet. A painful time to be sure. But I survived and soon we were haggling over what to keep and what went. Combining households is a daunting task, and in an effort to save our sanity as well as our young relationship we opted for the storage unit. For just 60 dollars a month we each had the piece of mind of knowing that if the whole situation tanked our belongings were just up the road, ready to set up house individually. Getting into the storage unit involved careful negotiations. We ditched his water bed, and like 90 percent of my other stuff was newer so I like totally won. But the efforts to build a nest together started then. Luckily we both worked retail, as that discount was to become the most important thing..

Anyhoo, that first apartment was tiny and shabby. It was our goal to like hide it. We covered it up with throw rugs, framed prints, and lamps. It was Daly City. It was dark and foggy and the place was poorly lit. We did make some smart purchases then tho. Like our dining set. Or the fish tank. Or some bathroom accessories.

3 or 4 years passed and we finally made enough money to move, and we moved up! San Mateo, sunshine, and a brand new apartment complex! No one had ever lived in our unit before us!! It was then that Richard brought home ALL of the coordinating pieces to the dining set, like the coffee table, and etageres. We finally replaced the second hand couch. We ditched my full size bed I grew up in for a California King. w00t. Sure we had no real bedroom set, other that my mother’s sister’s stuff she passed on after her divorce, but all that went into the spare room with the smaller bed. We had a walk in closet now! We needed no dresser! The bedroom was like all bed! The place also had a kitchen you could actually cook in, working oven and all. We started collecting Kitchen Aid red accessories and utensils. We bought dishes that matched a piece of artwork we liked. (We shopped a lot in that time… new bathroom stuff? TV stand? more art?)

After a few years there we were off to San Diego. Richard found us a place that was much bigger than out pretty new apartment in San Mateo. And we had to fill that too. Enter the bar, some enormous artwork, a sitting room chair that we later paired, my desk. I miss that desk. We got a great lamp.

And here we are in our second address in San Diego and finally buying bedroom furniture after ten years. That last room will finally be done. And most of the things we got together over the years we still have and look great no matter where we go. The only thing we didn’t ever buy together over the years is a home. We are working on that tho.

tagged: richard memories moving insomnia spoiled home furnishings combining households
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daniel · the wee hours · 3 comments · ping it