Communal Living
The past couple of weeks has been a never-ending road trip, driving between LA and the desert. Dj and I finally managed to move all of our belongings (which shouldn't be much because we're minimalists right?) and our three little succulent love ferns to our new home. We are beyond happy; imagine going from a beautiful, but desolate landscape, to a backdoor that shows the city, the freeway, and the mountains. We went from a ground floor studio apartment. To a sixth-floor, four-bedroom apartment. The world is so different from up here, and we are eager children exploring this new world, this new city, the new people, the sights, sounds, smells.
Dj and I had been praying about where we would live and move after we moved to the desert, since we knew his time in the marines would end soon. For the last three months, we hoped and prayed and dreamed. We listened, and pondered, and considered. We sat in prayer. And God provided.
It is a crazy story, but God works in such mysterious and crazy ways. Dj had just signed up for a programming boot camp here in LA and he met a fellow veteran who just completed the boot camp. Dj got to talking with him and the guy asked if we had found a place to live yet and offered for us to come move into his apartment since he was looking for new roommates. We talked it over, the night we accidentally stayed at a hostel, and went to look at some apartments the next day, including the one his new friend invited us too. After looking at a place that was run by sketchy apartment management we texted the new friend and asked him if we could check out his apartment. We drove out and saw it. It was amazing, four-bedrooms, one with an adjoining balcony overlooking the city, one with an adjoined bathroom. Two up the winding, spiral staircase in the living room, and two on the first floor, on either side of the staircase.
This apartment is one of those modern-looking ones that are super expensive, and that we couldn't afford on our own. The living room has two huge windows, one on top of the other, which gives it a floor-to-ceiling window effect. The whole place is amazing, from the super modern/ feng shui-inspired courtyard with red cushioned chairs, an interesting arrangement of a plant oasis surrounding a unique metal water fountain that has the most soothing sound that reverberates all the way up to the sixth floor.
The apartment was amazing and enticing no question, but the idea of living with roommates? At first, I was against it. After all we are only three months married, adding more people to the mix? Is that wise? Then, after praying about it and talking about it, I realized this is something I always wanted. It was a dream I've always had and it was finally realized. I always wanted communal living, I just had never thought of it in the context of being married. Communal living is amazing. It's a chance to grow, to learn, to adapt. To connect with people on a new level, on a level different than friendship and family, but combining both those relationships into a new one.
Dj and I decided that it was a great opportunity. So we said yes, and we moved in as the previous roommates were moving out. We live in the room across the kitchen, with a bathroom attached. We have so much space here, it is so much bigger than the desert apartment and it's exciting because it is filled with other people. This large space is constantly being invaded and lived in. It's a joy. And we LOVE our roommates! We have three roommates now, our new friend who told us about the apartment, named Jameel, Amy who works for a non-profit and is into the same documentaries about controversies as me and her dog Henry Winkler, and Anna, who is from Finland, a student at a nearby university who also has an eye for design and works for a famous Finnish pop star. And then there's Dj and I, the "married couple." We could have never imagined this setup in our wildest dreams. But here we are, in a four-bedroom apartment, in the middle of LA, with three new humans to share the world with. Ups and downs, tears and laughter. This is an exciting journey and I cannot wait to blog more about it.
Cheers to new places to call home, to sweet memories in old homes, and to the newness and freshness of beginning again.
