A Home of Our Own

July 2016

2726 West Grace Street

Apartment 9

Richmond, Virginia

“This is the best dinner I’ve ever eaten,” Phil gushed as he quickly sliced another bite of his Yum-Yum pork chop. We were sitting on our recently purchased throw pillows, hunching over a banged-up coffee table I’ve lugged with me everywhere since I was eighteen in a bare living room, and I’m not sure I’ve ever been more satisfied.

Phil and I had recently combined worlds to move in together in Richmond. We no longer had to live out of suitcases, eat dinner apart during the week, separate our work, middle-of-the-week life from our private life, or sit for hours upon end in standing traffic along I-95. We could live life with a newly-infused spontaneity (yes- even I deeply longed for this freedom), run errands on Saturday morning and work out on Sunday afternoon. We could sink deeply into our communities by building friendships and growing roots, we could finally call a city “home,” and most importantly, we could learn how to be us in a normal relationship, unburdened by logistics.

Up until this point, we had only ever cooked Blue Apron Meals with one another because neither of us had time to grocery shop since we traveled every weekend. In Richmond during the summer of 2016, Phil and I began to meal plan together (a first for Phil) and test out recipes in our tiniest of kitchens, always with a glass of pinot noir nearby and Ella Fitzgerald in the background. We were determining the meals that could become our family staples. I was fully, wholly, and unabashedly content.

By nature I am restless and fickle and have an insatiable desire to travel. I found my happy place meandering along the colorful streets of the Marais District, dancing the waltz in palaces of Vienna, and trekking the mountain trails of Switzerland. But I’ve never been so happy as I was eating the Betty Crocker Yum-Yum pork chops we prepared together in our sixty square foot kitchen. I finally felt comfortable staying, resting, being -sinking into a home that was ours as opposed to seeking my next fix, my next great adventure. This is not to say we will not travel together, for I will forever want to explore, but I now have a happy home – our home – to return to.

REA