I have been wrestling with how exactly to tell this story. We experienced a gesture so sweet, it simply has to go in the chronicles of "moving to Seattle."
We haven't lived in an apartment in 23 years. We are used to our wonderful cul-de-sac, where we've been neighbors with almost exactly the same people for ages. We had years of chatting at the mailbox, waving as we drove in, planning activities kind of neighborhood and now we find ourselves living where people in their 20's come and go at all hours with almost no connection or acknowledgement of each other. Ants in an ant farm. Everyone that we speak to is friendly, but we probably won't run into each other again on the property. The number of tenants is large and everyone is on their own schedule.
Which brings me to this story. We had a medical emergency very early one Saturday morning and I needed help. I ran to the apartment where I knew a young couple lived - I had occasionally chatted with the girl when we were both getting out of our cars. All I had to say was "I need help" and this darling couple in pajamas ran out of their apartment after me. Long story short, they were a tremendous help to me and we were grateful.
The young wife stopped by the next day with cookies to ask how things were. So nice! Then we snuck a thank you note with a restaurant gift card under their door. I wrote that I knew it was unnecessary to send them out to dinner, but that was part of the fun. That night, they texted us a selfie from the restaurant. A millennial thank you of the cutest proportion.
Two days later, we came home to find this wreath on our door. The girl we hardly knew had jazzed up our temporary home with a wreath she made - including an "R" for Reeves. Her note said that she tried to match the colors in our doormat. If that isn't the epitome of neighborly and wonderful, I don't know what is.
Their help and kindness is another reason I feel great about this epic move across the country.
When Dan took a job in Seattle, we were challenged with setting up another place to call home. We were so very lucky that my parents had extra furniture they could spare. When we told them we were setting up an apartment, they suggested we put this couch, these 2 chairs and the print chair/ottoman set on the truck.
Our plan was to keep our house in Michigan for a year or so and I would travel back and forth. Their furniture allowed us to skip the futon and make a nice little home for ourselves as we transitioned. It has been a year and 9 months since Dan moved in and a lot has changed. We've sold our house in Michigan and are building in a neighborhood on the East-side of Seattle. The funny thing is that my mom now has her own place out here in Seattle and plans on spending the winters here with us. When she comes to our apartment for dinner, sits on her couch and says "I like what we've done with the place." I usually counter with something along the lines of, "Feeling nostaglic?" It is familiar for both of us and that's wonderful.
We made the place our own by hanging a favorite pair of prints called Silver Birches by Nell Revel Smith over the couch. She paints the area in northern Michigan where we've always spent the summer and her work always makes us feel relaxed.
My mom and I scoured Homegoods and TJ Maxx for pillows with blues and greens to pull color from the art. I added a teal angora throw on one chair and placed a large circle melamine platter of a succulent (it looks a bit like this) on the butterscotch suede footrests. Doesn't it look pretty? We have since hung floor to ceiling off white drapes to soften the windows, but the room looks essentially like this.
