Hobbit Hole

After 8 1/2 years of living with roommates, I was ready to be on my own again. Of course, I live in Boston, which means that I can't afford a place of my own. Even most "affordable" studios are more than double what I can pay. What I needed were landlords who were more concerned with finding the right person than with bringing in a lot of money.

Would you believe that I found it? I moved in at the end of August. It's super-teeny, but I was able to take it happily, largely because I considered it temporary. Reliable people had declared that it's often more affordable to buy a condo than rent an apartment in Beantown, so my plan was to start looking for a condo to buy.

Then two things happened:
1. I talked to a couple mortgage lenders and figured out what I can afford in this area, which is nothing.
2. This little apartment is starting to grow on me.

As a kid, I found small spaces cozy and safe. I daydreamed of having a little clubhouse sort of place, where I could hunker down with my favorite belongings around me, close at hand. This apartment feels like the adult realization of this dream.

Like I said, it's super tiny. Like, no-living-area, can't-have-visitors tiny. But that's OK. It's also underground, in a basement. So I call it my Hobbit Hole. I don't get to sit around blowing smoke rings (I suspect hobbit holes did not have smoke alarms), but I do get to sleep about five yards away from my fridge. I can place one hand on my kitchen sink and the other on my bathroom sink, simultaneously, without straining. The washer and dryer are right outside my door, so I have to exert almost no effort to do that chore. And best of all, the only insanity, dysfunction, or neediness I have to come home to is my own. All my new roommates are spiders, and they are wonderfully low-maintenance.

So I might stay put for a while and enjoy this. I can maybe go the affordable housing route and still try to buy a condo, and have the pleasure of decorating it, but for now, I think I'd like to hunker down. Let's see how cozy this place gets in the winter.