I moved recently, and as I left the apartment I’d lived in for the past 8 years, I was reminded of how I ended up living there in the first place. Here’s that story…..
So, in my mid-thirties. as my spirituality was evolving and growing, a romantic relationship I was in was coming to an end. It wasn’t a terrible break up because I really believe that he and I both knew from Day One that we had an expiration date. It was just a matter of time.
He was a great guy. To this day, we’re still friends and I wish him nothing but the best. We were just a truly terrible couple. When it’s not meant to be, you don’t have to be super sensitive to pick that up. You just know.
It was finally over on a Friday night. We were living together and he wanted to stay in our apartment so it appeared I was moving. Despite my bravado, I was a little apprehensive about being on my own. At this point, I had never lived alone in my entire life and I wasn’t sure how I would cope with that.
I went to bed that night feeling fairly confident though that I had made the right decision. I lay there and planned for the next day. I was scheduled to help my brother and his wife move so I decided the best thing to do would be to get Saturday’s paper and find myself a place to live.
Of course, nagging, fearful thoughts interrupted my careful planning. As mentioned, the voice in my head can be nasty at times and it was in fine form that evening.
“So you’re just going to find yourself a place to live, huh? Get the paper tomorrow and check the classifieds? Don’t you think that if THE UNIVERSE” – dripping with sarcasm here – “really wanted you to leave, that you wouldn’t even need a newspaper? Shouldn’t an apartment simply just magically APPEAR for such a spiritual person??”
Hard to argue with that logic. So instead, I told it to shut up and went to sleep.
I did get the paper the next morning on my way to my brother’s place. So I was ready. I had also decided that I wouldn’t mention anything about the breakup to them, as I didn’t want anyone worrying over me.
When I arrived, I met some of my sister-in-law’s friends who were also there to help. By noon, we were all tired and hungry and so my sis-in-law, her friend, and I piled into a car to go get food for the group. While driving, my sis-in-law asked if my boyfriend and I were still coming to dinner the next day. It was Mothers Day and despite the chaos of their move, they had a family dinner planned.
I bit the bullet and said that while I would of course be in attendance, that my boyfriend wouldn’t be there because we had broken up. As anticipated, she was concerned. I brushed it off, ‘I’m totally fine, I believe this is for the best for both of us. I just have to find a place to live now.’
Her friend, a lovely lady that I had met a mere few hours earlier, turned and said to me, ‘If you can wait a few weeks, my apartment in the East End will be available. I’m moving at the end of June.’
As comedian Bill Engall so eloquently says — “Here’s your sign.”