Early next week the final bits of paper change hands and I will no longer own my tiny piece of Darlinghurst.
8 years ago when I moved in I was living a very different life. I had already been 7 years up the road next to what was Dov. I was very single and working long hours on various cop shows. I had never thought I could buy property but on some very good advice and encouragement I did it. It took a few years to save the deposit and after a year of looking I found my dream home.
Over the years I made my courtyard in to a green haven, renovated , joined the strata, organised extensive building works and dealt with extremely complicated strata politics.
I loved walking through the communal garden, into my courtyard and then into my flat.
I loved sitting on the lounge and looking up to the sky past the tree in the courtyard.
I loved not having the bathroom off the bedroom.
Due to the amount of strata work going on and the numerous special levies I had little or no money to do much and after major damp work on the flat I managed to remove the wall between the kitchen and lounge to open the flat up. It took nearly 9 months to finish off the flat after this and for quite a bit of it I lived in a dusty mess. I saved to put in the floor - which I did in a day with a chippie friend, I saved to put in carpet, I painted the entire flat over one Easter - 3 coats on each surface, undercoat and then 2 coats of paint on top.
When S.V. moved to Sydney we needed more space and moved across the courtyard to one of my neighbor's place whilst she was overseas for a year. So the transition out of my flat and Darlinghurst was very gentle. It was collecting the last of my plants this week that made me realise how sad I am about saying goodbye. I also think that my life there was also so much about my friendship with Sally and this all being so close to her going is making it harder still.
This is not to say that I am not happy to be where I am now - but I really felt the need to acknowledge saying good bye to that part of my life and my lovely little home in Darlinghurst.
6 comments:
Sometimes that final bit of letting go is very hard. It's about recognising you have changed but wanting to hold on to the good things from those times.
it's bittersweet isn't it? the happiness of a new home paired with the nostalgia of the old. What a lovely lot of work you did though - great achievement!
Ooooooh sweet.... and we must catch up!
Nice story and flat fee :)
Letting go of the past is hard especially when there are nice memories involved, go forward take them with you and make new wonderful ones, bigger and better :D
Sometimes we build ourselves a place. We put effort into it and spend time in it. It becomes our refuge from the world and a place we find ourselves.
When we decide to move on the shiny newness can distract us from what we are letting go. At some point we have to really let go and that is hard. It's ok to be sad but Lyn is right it's important to take the good memories about it with you
so much has changed hasnt it? i hope it keeps getting better for you fee xx
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