Tonight is our last night in Allentown. Tomorrow night, we’ll be packing the moving truck with all our worldly possessions and heading to the new house. Right now, I am surrounded by boxes, the walls are bare, our home is stripped down to its bare bones. It’s looking very sad right now. There’s nothing sadder than an empty home just begging for someone to fill it with memories and things. I’m sad to be leaving this apartment, our first place together. For all its quirks and alien insects, I love this place. And while we’re only moving 10 minutes away, I can’t seem to fight the urge to walk Main Street again, to get ice cream at Swal’s or a slice of pizza at La Piazza, or go for a run in Heritage Park. It’s silly, I know. I can just hop in my car and be back in 10 minutes, but I also know it won’t be the same as living here. I'll miss our neighbors. I’ll miss the old man who sits on his porch across the street and waves hello. I’ll miss the crazy, sweet lady next door and her enormous bear of a dog. I'll miss handing out candy to a thousand trick-or-treaters during the parade. I’ll miss being able to walk to my favorite pizza shop. I’ll miss the lake in the backyard even though it evicted us from our apartment for awhile. And then there’s the apartment: I’ll miss the built-in bookshelves, the hand-laid, 100-year old floors, the crown molding, the ornate radiators. At least I know it’ll be in good hands once we’re gone.
But we have new neighbors to meet, a new house to make a home, a new neighborhood to learn (or re-learn in my case) and that’s exciting too. I’m looking forward to adding our touch to our new place and filling it with new furniture and pictures and making it ours. I’m definitely looking forward to be finished painting and (hopefully) losing the arthritic ache in my hand from holding a paint roller for way too many hours. We’re onto a new chapter in our lives and I couldn’t be more thrilled.
