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When we were first married we lived in my college apartment on Milwaukee’s east side. It was a great place, except there really wasn’t a kitchen. Our kitchen was a converted walk-in closet and we cooked on hot plates and toaster ovens. Plural. Toaster ovens. We were looking for a place to move, and I’m not entirely sure how it all it happened, but we ended up being shown two duplexes that were owned by the same rental company. He was a nice guy, he owned a lot of properties on the east side, and he also was a member of the congregation that my husband worked at.
Anyhow, so we saw the first place on the corner of Downer and Capitol in Shorewood. It was nice. The current renter had dogs and I was like: We can have dogs???? Plus, it was Shorewood, which meant our car insurance immediately would go down. This was important to me at the time. I’m all about the lower rates. The second place was on the corner of Downer and Summit (you know, past St. Mary’s but before The Chancery), the duplex faced the point of the triangular block and through the front windows you could see that the family room was painted red. Red? I’d always wondered about that color choice. Anyhow, the landlord didn’t have a key and the tenants weren’t home. We could wait or we could make a quick decision and take the first place.
We took the place in Shorewood.
When I turned in our application and our deposit the landlord shook my hand and said congratulations. I was never sure what he was congratulating me on: My upcoming graduation from college? Being accepted to live in one of his properties? Choosing a fork in the road of life?
Phoebe trying to fit into the cat bed, this photo still cracks me up.
I often wonder how our lives would be different if we would have chose differently. For one, we never would have had a dog. Phoebe joined our family a few months after moving in. I wonder if we would have become lifelong east siders? Would Maisy (our Boxer) be part of our family now? Would I still be riding my bike up and down Lake Drive? Where would our life have taken us if we would have moved into that home with the red family room?
Kimberly writes and podcasts at Outside My Head and That's My Answer.
