A year later

Weekends, without a pressing list of packing or unpacking to-do's, seem wrong. Today I passed a couple coming out of the subway with a handful of internet printouts and a map, clearly headed for open houses. It's been about a year since I was one of them. Did I expect to find myself here?

In case I haven't made it clear, I am extremely fortunate and happy with how it's turned out for me. I have a bigger apartment in a nicer building than those first months made me believe I could ever afford. Part of a market slowdown? Maybe, but I think more likely I just was lucky to be in the right place (Craigslist) at the right time (day after Thanksgiving.) If I had gone upstate (as offered) for the weekend, I would have missed the open house and the best-final-bid process, and this apartment would have gone to someone else. If I had not been turned down by the other coop board, I'd be living in a smaller apartment on a less beautiful block, and someone else would be living here.

But here I am.