I love Long Beach. Love, love, love it. I love the people on the streets walking
around, walking their dogs, riding their bikes, taking a jog. I love running walk/jogging along the
bike path, next to the ocean. I love the
sun on my face, the breeze cooling me down, looking out at the vastness, once I
get past those oil barges. I love
sitting on the pier, watching the sun set, soft oranges and yellows glistening
on the mild waves. I love being able to
easily walk to the grocery store, the Wal-Mart, the nail place, to any number
of restaurants to get any kind of food I
want. I love that my building looks like
an old, glamorous Hollywood hotel, where someone with arm-length gloves and a
tiara or something is going to walk out of the elevator at any point. This would be, of course, when the elevators
are working. I love my balcony- setting
up a couple of cheap lawn chairs and playing some gin on a nice day. I love that my neighbors are all friendly,
and a lot of them are young and like saying hi and chatting in the
elevator. I love that I live across from
a fancy restaurant, and I get to check out the ridiculously nice cars the
valets park out front. I’m going to have
dinner there sometime. And it’s going to
be awesome. I won’t ask them to park the
Civic.
I love that, close as it is, I took a chance and moved somewhere new, away from my family and the only life I’ve known for 30 years. I’m still extremely close by, but even a little distance makes me feel somehow stronger, more grown up. Like I might be able to take care of myself, “for real”. Since I was old enough, I’ve always worked*, and paid for things on my own, and I’ve paid rent and lived on my own before. But sometimes I don’t feel like an adult. And somehow, this move helped a little. Maybe I’m “finding myself”. Which, quite frankly, is a little embarrassing because how do you lose someone you’re with twenty-four hours a day? Yet another of life’s mysteries, I guess.
*…with the exception of that glorious 12 months where I was unemployed and decided to pursue awesomeness FULL-TIME. It really suited me. I’m grateful for that time.
I love that, close as it is, I took a chance and moved somewhere new, away from my family and the only life I’ve known for 30 years. I’m still extremely close by, but even a little distance makes me feel somehow stronger, more grown up. Like I might be able to take care of myself, “for real”. Since I was old enough, I’ve always worked*, and paid for things on my own, and I’ve paid rent and lived on my own before. But sometimes I don’t feel like an adult. And somehow, this move helped a little. Maybe I’m “finding myself”. Which, quite frankly, is a little embarrassing because how do you lose someone you’re with twenty-four hours a day? Yet another of life’s mysteries, I guess.
*…with the exception of that glorious 12 months where I was unemployed and decided to pursue awesomeness FULL-TIME. It really suited me. I’m grateful for that time.
No comments:
Post a Comment