Breaking Into the Past

Yes, the trip to Austin was great.  I loved teaching all the kids and I have a few great blog ideas from them and the parent discussions.  But, today is my birthday and I only have a minute to write.

This was my home for six years, all by myself.  The upstairs unit. The rent was $450 a month.  My piano payment was $200 a month.  My car payment was $400 a month.  My student loan payment was $220 a month.  I taught fifty, yes fifty students every week.  I had three gigs with my band every weekend.  I worked at Bank One in the morning from 8:00-12:00.  Then I started grad school.

You probably will not be surprised to know that I made the little garden there.  My dad put up that fence to give me some privacy from my neighbors.  I hauled all the little stepping stones from a junk heap down the street. It looked much cuter when I was in charge.  Parents of my students donated garden plants to me. Fifteen years later not much has changed.  Those steps held the three guys who moved the seven foot Baldwin up and down them.  They are still standing.

There was only one AC unit when I lived there. . . and the paint is still holding it into the rotted out window frame.  Two beloved cats got run over in the street in front.  Gershwin and Rhapsody.   I must say those were two of the worst days of my life. . .

Okay, there were NO party beads hanging from the trees then. . .

But this, this is where I learned to be alone.  I loved that place.  I made it so sweet.  I spent every spare minute and every spare dime fixing it up.  I wallpapered and painted every square inch of the inside.  I went to the city wide garage sale every month to furnish it. The desk I'm writing at now first found it's home there, after I stripped and varnished it. I tore up carpet and scraped the tile underneath.

All by myself.

I'm glad I had that time.

Alone.  There is a good alone and there is a bad alone.

I'm glad I have had them both.