Wednesday, October 17, 2007

I remember a strange moving day....

I had been living in a bachelor apartment in the West End of Vancouver. It had been a great place to live, with a friend next door and a swimming pool in the basement, but all of a sudden it was costing too much. I had lost my job and had no money. My friend, Jezebel (remember her from this post?) said I could move in with her. Great!! I would save a bunch of money and move in with a white-skinned bat-cave chick, upping my "cool" rating considerably.

I didn't have much stuff. My apartment had been almost empty, with my clothes in little piles along one wall, my stereo in the living room with my records leaning against it, and the couch that I slept on. That was about it, except for the retro dining table and chairs I had bought at a second-hand store. I decided to nab a shopping cart and load all my earthly belongings into it. Everything fit, except the couch, the table, and chairs. I decided to leave them behind--life was transitory, right?

I pushed the shopping cart into the elevator and rode the six floors down to the main floor. I felt kind of guilty about leaving without giving notice, but figured the table and chairs were a good peace offering to the sweet old landlady.

It was a short six or seven blocks to my new apartment. The shopping cart rattled loudly in the evening darkness. I couldn't help but wonder how far removed was I from the bag lady I appeared to be at that moment? No money coming in, all my possessions in one shopping cart...it was a disturbing thought, no matter how far up the "cool" rating I was moving.

4 comments:

Citymouse said...

I thought I was the only one who ever did that

Anonymous said...

Ah - the freedom of youth! The days when all one's belongings fit in a shopping cart, or the back seat of a VW bug that hopefully, will not break down (or run out of gas) before one's destination! Now it's "do you think we can fit this stuff in the u-haul? Maybe we should have gotten the larger size!" Oh - don't worry, stick the extra stuff in the storage unit!

I love going back-packing; it gets my priorities back to where they ought to be. The rule is, if you can't fit it in the pack and carry it 15 miles, you don't need it. I wish I could remember that when we're not on holiday...

Anonymous said...

hi there, I just finished my latest issue of geez magazine and enjoyed your article.... thought I'd stop on by and make friends. I think we'd get along just fine.

Anonymous said...

I like this, a lot. It's kind of weird to think how close all of us are to not having anything. I can't help but believe sometimes that that's not a completely bad thing, I mean, how much did Jesus really have, it seems like he just wandered from one place to another with nothing but his disciples surrounding him, at least that's all the NT makes note on.