Movin' on Up

The time has finally come - we're moving our cute, practical studio apartment for something a bit bigger and more luxurious.  We're not moving far, we're just moving up 13 floors in our current building to something bigger with a much better view.

The decision to move was extremely impulsive.  We've been thinking about it for a while, but last Sunday around lunch time, I suggested to Wife that, since we knew the building's leasing manager was around, we should find out what is available in our building.  A few minutes later, he showed us an apartment.  A few minutes after that, we said, "We'll take it."  I think Wife is still in shock.

For some reason, whenever I think about moving, the chorus of the song "Closing Time" by Semisonic comes to mind: "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."  When we moved to this apartment, Wife and I were still newlyweds, and I had just finished sitting for the New York Bar Exam.  We picked this apartment because it was close to her job at the advertising agency, and it was close to the job that I was about to begin. 

When searching for an apartment, we realized that the further away from our jobs we moved, the bigger our apartment would be.  We both worked long hours, so we felt that our money was better spent ensuring our commutes were short and our time together was maximized. 

We also knew that a dingy, shady apartment would give us a bigger apartment for the same price as a luxury, safe apartment.  We decided we would rather have a small, nice apartment that is close to work than a larger apartment where we didn't feel safe and had a long commute. We've never regretted our choice.  The decision to move into a shoebox with no view made perfect sense when I hadn't yet started my legal career and there were just two of us.

Since that time, I'm now a mid-level attorney at my firm.  More importantly, a family grew with the addition of our two daughters.  The four of us call our studio apartment home, and we're happy in our studio apartment.

There are a couple reasons that I have really enjoyed living in the studio.

First, living in a studio requires closeness.  I believe that people who have always lived in homes or large apartments can't fathom what living in a studio with more than one person is like.  When I am not working, we are virtually ALWAYS together.  Even when we are not sitting next to each other, the small apartment makes you feel close.  If you start to get annoyed with the other, there's really nowhere to go.  Pretty much the only place to go for privacy is the bathroom, and that only works for a few moments.  About 8 seconds after the bathroom door closes, Katie starts knocking on the door asking, "Daddy, are you doing pee pee or poo poo?  Daddy?  Daddy?  Pee pee or poo poo, Daddy???"  Like I said, little apartments force closeness.  (I should add, our new apartment is bigger, but is still considered an extremely small home in pretty much every place in America other than Manhattan.)

Second, because living in a studio helps with a frugal attitude.  I'm cheap.  So is Wife.  I love the fact that both of us have the attitude that if a studio apartment is working, there is no point in spending money on something else.  We don't feel like we need to keep up with the Joneses. 

While we have loved our little shoebox on a low floor, in a few days we will have a larger shoebox on a high floor with a view.  We'll talk about the new place soon.