Reality Sets In

Welcome Home, Courtney! (Boarding School Edition)

The bathrooms are so orange that when you turn the lights on, you risk being blinded. Strangers from hockey camp plunk their lawn chairs down in front of your front door. The toilet in the "master" bedroom doesn't work, and there are ants. The previous tenants removed three windows to put in air conditioners and took out all the screens. You can't use two utensil drawers because the stove and the fridge partially, just enough, block them. The kitchen faucet shoots water out when you use the cold water. There is a corner or three that smell like cat pee, and your dog has already christened a spot in retaliation. There are 4 pink rooms, one of which has a pink ceiling too, and there are rooms for 30 teenage boys next door!

But, the previous tenant planted beautiful flowers, and there are several big, old trees surrounding the building. You can stop using your car and walk to work every day, even on the coldest Minnesota winter day. You found the three windows and all the screens in the basement, and the first painting crew is coming on Monday. The stove and fridge are almost new, and you love making cookies for multitudes of kids. You have an office all to yourself and a whole other room for your sewing machine and quilting stuff. There's a lovely little patio out back, with a view of trees instead of buildings. And, perhaps best of all, for the first time ever since you left your parents' houses to go to Wesleyan, you'll have your own washer and dryer and they won't require quarters!