But I say, "Oh yes you can, if your house is on wheels!"
As you (may) know, when I sold my house in December, I signed a 12 month lease for a nearby small apartment. It's a temporary, transitional space until I move into my tiny house on wheels in December 2013.
Honestly I've enjoyed the transition to the apartment, which sort of surprises me. Everything is new, I'm across the street from a ton of green space, I don't hear my neighbors through the walls, there's adequate covered parking... It's nice to not be hip deep in (voluntary) projects on an 80+ year old house and to have time to focus on my transition to tiny living.
That being said, my living room and bedroom windows face a courtyard. And it's a beautiful one - twinkle lights, a huge fireplace, comfy furniture, grills... And - yesterday here it was 70. And last night? Party in the courtyard! I was dismayed by the level of noise on a weeknight, but was able to recognize that I am a homebody and I like it quiet, and it wasn't yet 11 p.m. I hopped on my computer to draft an upcoming blog post and practiced tolerance. Soon after 11 however, they pushed in the chairs and rolled the coolers away. Ahhh. I climbed into bed, grateful for the quiet.
For about 10 minutes.
Did I mention that most of the apartments on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors have balconies that face the courtyard? Short story is that over the course of the next 4 hours, three different groups of folks stood around talking loudly on their balconies. At 2:10 a.m. I finally heaved open my bedroom window in the dark and called out, "Hey you guys, you are really loud - some of us are trying to sleep." I got a speedy apology and they settled down shortly after that. Unfortunately there was another group after them.
I've emailed the complex; if they don't have a way to enforce quiet time, I may have to switch units. I really don't want to do that, but I can only anticipate heavier courtyard use as Spring and Summer progress.
But when I'm in my tiny house? [evil laughter] I will just hitch it to my vehicle and drive away. Now THAT will be bliss.
oh the entanglement of lives! I adore the image you used in this post, it's just a beautiful reminder.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite quotes goes like this:
"The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
How to balance that with Speaking your Truth, and being kind to yourself? I feel like your approach to this sitch is spot on :-)
Thank you for the validation! Mysteriously while I haven't seen any notices about quiet hours posted, there have not been any more soirees out there... not that I'm opposed to soirees... : )
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