For the past two years I've been living between Baltimore and Murfreesboro, TN. Not having a stable home has left me longing for more security and a place to put down roots. It's also had me thinking about all the places I've lived over the years...
I was born in PA and lived in a trailer off Shauffnertown Road until I was two. In 1968, we moved down the street into a house that my father built (my parents still live there.) I lived with my family until I went to Millersville University in Lancaster. I spent a year in the dorms and then rented a house with my boyfriend on Queen Street. It was the first place that felt like my own. It was big, and empty, since were all too poor to afford furniture. With all the open space we decided to start doing monthly exhibits and music nights, it was my first taste of the joys of a creative community. My little utopia was shattered when we were burgled. I didn't have much, but they took all my worldly possessions, including my priceless collection of
costume jewelry. Ron and I moved to a second floor apartment on Franklin Street and I stayed there until we broke up a year later. Next I lived with Peri and Andrea on Pine Street. I had a really big open bedroom with window seats. I lived there for two years until I made the big move to Baltimore.
I had planned to move to Baltimore with my pal Adam, but that never materialized. So I ended up solo on St. Paul Street. I didn't know a soul and was working as a receptionist, it was the hardest year of my life! Things improved the following year as I started graduate school at Towson University and moved into an efficiency on 41st street. I had a hard time making the rent on my own, so I found a roommate and a cheap apartment on Hanover Street. It was in terrible shape and didn't have heat until late November, but the rent was $360 and I could paint the place however I wanted. After slumming it for year I moved into a real house with Chris and Stacey on Arabia Avenue. I stayed there for two years and then moved with Chris to an apartment in a nice house on Woodlawn Avenue. I had lived with roommates for years and decided I needed my own space, so I rented a shotgun apartment on St. Paul Street. It had a balcony that over looked a catholic church and I often fantasized that I was in Italy. After that, I rented a house on Guilford Avenue with my boyfriend Jason. It was a cool old house, but unfortunately had a constant flooded basement.
After Jason and I spilt, I set out looking for a place on my own. I was looking at apartments, before I realized I might be able to afford a house. I only looked at three places. When I walked into the house on Greenmount Avenue, I was instantly smitten! I remember sitting on the back porch feeling that I was finally home. I painted the living room red and the kitchen Pixy (a perfect shade of 1950's green.) Having a house made me feel like an adult and gave me room to grow. Bill and I had our wedding party there and it was the site of my beloved spare room.
In 2005, I accepted a teaching position in Murfreesboro, TN, and found a duplex on Maney Avenue, a street lined with beautiful Victorian houses. So, now I split my time between Baltimore and Murfreesboro. I still love the house in Baltimore, but it feels less like home these days. It's a strange feeling to be between places. Home has become a more fleeting concept and less about physical place and more about the people I love. I don't know where I will end up next, and I wonder how my map may change in the coming years.
