First Apartment: Promise and glamour of being all grown up

My husband and I are in the process of packing up all our stuff to rent out another apartment for various reasons. Yesterday, while packing, all of a sudden we realized that it was our first apartment out of our mother ship! We have created so many memories here! This apartment has seen us fight and make up, seen us dance and sing, seen us be silly and goofy, seen us mature and childish, seen us in secured and later a ninja fight… Oh my god! It has seen so many things. You know what; it has seen the chunk of our “tumultuous twenties”! Why!! This is where we even first started our buzz360! We love our creative corner to read, write, paint and blog! Adit’s hi-tech gizmo corner was truly one of a kind! Pictures of our favorite moments and family adorning the wall; I loved our cozy bedroom with a huge window overlooking the downtown. This apartment was my home for the past 3 years and adit’s for the past 5 years!

Like many of the wives of Software Engineer Mappillais from America, I migrated to US after my college and marriage. 500 N Maryland Ave Apt. 1. My first apartment! I had a grand welcome into the home – No, no! I did not have a big crowd or to receive me or anything but my new husband did this “arti” and had the real “grihapravesham” – rice kicking and stuff for me. It felt straight out of a Shah Rukh movie! Our newly wed blissful life was completely centered on this apartment!

The apartment wasn’t big luxurious, fancy spitting out grandeur or anything. On the contrary it was 1975 built, raggedly old building. In spite of that it was cozy and functional!

My initial reaction to the apartment was that I was so positively psyched by the idea of living in Glendale downtown amidst all the tall buildings! Being a small town girl from Palakkad the city life was so alluring to me then! When I first moved in there was not a single piece of furniture in the house; it was an open floor plan. Adit waited for me to come so that we could pick the furniture and all the related bells and whistles together. So that it reflected on both of us. Little by little furniture here and there or the entertainment center here crept in! The research and shopping for our living room furniture was an adventure by itself. As soon as we furnished the place we were excited to take pictures and call our family back in India on Skype to show what we had done to the place. Yep! We do have before and after pictures! Hehehe!

Experiencing the thrill for the first time on our own was an incredible event for both Adit and me! Freedom! Adit and I have lived through some of our best moments here! I remember the time I cooked my first 4 course South Indian meal for my husband. I was super excited to be cooking for him and to see if he had liked it. Speaking of cooking, this tiny kitchen has seen the best and worst of my cooking. On my very first day, I ruined the garbage disposer and Adit had an episode with the apartment manager – trying to explain to him that his new Indian bride did not know how to use it (Gulp! I put in raw carrot chunks to see if it broke – it really broke it down!)

In spite of the undependable manager, cabinets falling apart, cranky-undependable toilet, noisy neighbors (I’ll never forgive you 24 Hour Fitness & the annoying shredding Company for all the noise that you make!), spider bites, late laundry hours, our experience in our first apartment lived up to its promise and glamour of being all grown up! I love you but nay! I am not going to miss you!!