On making new habits

Settling in to a new place takes more than unpacking boxes, getting books on the shelves, and art on the walls. I'd say that this settling in has been more difficult than previous ones, but I'm not sure that's true. It seems like the long process of making a place feel like home itself erases the memory of the process. I'm pretty sure we cried ourselves to sleep our first night in New York, railed against the useless public transportation system in Minneapolis (pre-light rail), scoffed at Champaign's college-town smallness, and felt oh-so-lonely for the first weeks (months?) in each place. I'd like to think of myself as fairly flexible, but the truth is that I'm a change wimp.

So, in the spirit of tracking minutia, a few of the little things about our new apartment that mark and ease the transition to life in Washington D.C.:

The refrigerator: I didn't bring many condiments from Champaign. Since condiments don't go bad quickly and I'm going to be in and out of our apartment there, it seemed silly to transport (and try and keep cool) all those open bottles. This means, however, that the little, sometimes expensive, things I use regularly but in small amounts aren't here and we've had to start over on the slow process of re-accumulation. We have some basics now (sesame oil, soy sauce, capers, maple syrup, mustard), but I also regularly run into things I'm lacking (fish sauce, ketchup, red wine vinegar, rice vinegar, the dregs of a bottle of white wine). Plus, the fridge still has that disorganized appearance that happens when you start with a completely empty space and just add things randomly as you acquire them.

The kitchen in general: The problem with remodeling a kitchen (at least if you're in my family) is that you're then destined to move within the year. And you're almost certain to move to a new kitchen that falls short of the newly remodeled one. Our new kitchen is, um ... slightly lacking in counter space and cabinets. We really limited what we brought, so I'm already missing some of my more esoteric kitchen items. We've managed to fit most of what we brought (though the kitchen aid mixer will be stored its box on the floor for the duration, I'm afraid), but there are two key things still in process. Anna wanted to leave our Champaign pot rack in place, so I got materials to make a new one... but it's not ready yet. And, our spices are currently stacked in bread pans under the sink because we haven't managed to buy a wall-mounted spice rack yet. So, things still feel unsettled in there and progress is slow.

The state of the plants: Our new apartment is significantly smaller than our Champaign place (and significantly more expensive ... go figure). It's also sadly dark, despite large banks of windows in the two main rooms (damn buildings next door). The darkness is a bit wearying in general (especially since I'm mostly working at home), but I am most worried about what it means for our plants who are used to our sunny dining room in Champaign. I think having them die off one by one is not going to be good for my psyche...

The state of the dog: Ceisaf has never had trouble transitioning into new places before, but this move seems to be hard for him. He's getting older and I'm sure that affects his flexibility (Anna noticed this summer that he did less well with all her moving around). I'm sure the smallness of the apartment also affects him, and even more, the fact that he no longer has good windows for surveying the world around him. Also, our apartment is on the first floor right by the front door. That means that almost everyone leaving the building goes past our door - and puts Ceisaf on alert. He's been giving me big eyed looks a lot more often lately, curling up against me or climbing in my lap whenever I sit down, and being a little bit resistant to walking when he's with only one of us. On the other hand, our new bed is pretty low and we immediately gave up on keeping him off ... so he's pretty happy to sleep at our feet (or up by our heads, taking over half the bed) every night.

Sharing: Though the change is hard, I can't get over how much easier this transition surely is thanks to the fact that I can share it with my partner. Being away from Anna for the long stretch of summer reminded me how much of a difference she makes in my life. I suppose she doesn't really count as minutia ... but as I've said before, it's the little things of our love that really keep me going ... and having her walk into the apartment every evening is the best moment of every day and makes the little things of transition oh so much easier to accumulate.