Last Day

So last night after wiping down whatever I could reach with Clorox wipes, I turned in my keys at Glen Ridge and drove home to my new place.

 

I have mixed feelings about leaving.  I'm leaving some nice people. Also, a lot of memories happened in that place. I lost two grandparents. I watched my first three seasons of Glee.  So many mornings watching Greg wake up and so many evenings him watching me fall asleep.

 

And then it was done. Lock the door, turn in the key.

 

Turn the key on some very hideous things. Rats. Mice. Roaches. Bedbugs. Someone throwing an effing large rock at Greg while he was jogging. Super thin walls. Dirty lobby with dead mice in it. Human feces in the laundry room. Muggings. Sexual assaults. Gang fights. Dumpster fires. Ghetto surroundings and ghetto behavior. Watching neighbors drop trou and relieve themselves on people's cars and the sides of buildings. A recession. Years of unemployment and severe depression. 

 

I look back at my darkened balcony and it almost seems sinister.

 

I can still close my eyes and all my furniture is still there and Greg turns around in his chair, smiling gently.

 

I still have that, without all the negative things.

 

I'm glad.