Saturday, February 26, 2011

reality check.

I dunno. Maybe it was the fact North Tacoma got more snow than us and it still lingered in the streets and the lawns and rooftops. The sidewalks unshoveled a guy carrying his groceries on his way home trying not to slip. A view north to Puget Sound. To the west the Olympics. To the east Rainier and the Cascades. House after house after gorgeous Craftsman house. Look at that one over there with the steps leading up from the sidewalk and then more steps up to the front porch!

I used to live there afterall, and it still pulls me back with a definite force - in North Tacoma amongst the alleys and the streets lined with maples Union and North 30th I feel at home. I'd walk to UPS to find an empty practice room long before the Bechstein just to play a bit. Take Julian to the parks. Walks alone down from North 46th to the water along Ruston Way. Saturday afternoons and some weeknights spent toiling at the Mountaineers building learning the ropes of climbing (yeah, haha) and meeting a guy named Matthew with whom I've climbed more or less exclusively since those days ten years ago. The little toy store off Proctor and 26th. Yard sales every summer driving mad-crazy around streets I still remember better than I do around my own house now.

So anyway driving through this afternoon jealous of the snow and the alleys and the streets lined with maple trees and icy sidewalks I was reminded how I ultimately want to live there in a small bungalow with alley access and this Bechstein once Julian has graduated high school and gone off on his own and I no longer have any ties here. So the point I guess at least the point for writing this up here is that I think I need the reality check while I plan out what I am going to all do to this place. Spend a few grand to remodel a disgusting and dated (and well now gutted) bathroom ... okay. Gut the entire back of the house to put in my dream kitchen ... reality check. Maybe not. Maybe just get around to upgrading the appliances and put in a real stone floor maybe some new cabinet door fronts to match more the paneling above the fireplace. Tear down all the remaining lath and plaster in the living room and Julian's bedroom for sheetrock ... no way. The walls are fine the way they are. Install paneling all around the living room ... maybe. Probably not. Hang casing and a crown molding around all the ceilngs ... definitely. I already bought all the solid fir doors so that's OK and I really like the nice antique door knobs like I already got for the bathroom but I'll miss them when I move into another house in North Tacoma no doubt not perfect like I planned on making this place so will take more work.

A neverending process.

But it's good to be reminded. I never planned on living here forever off this pretty busy street. I've always wanted to eventually settle in North Tacoma. So just need to keep that in mind before plunking down thousands of dollars or investing hundreds of hours. I still want to do most of what I had and have in mind but there will no doubt be some things that get scrapped or downgraded from such ambitious plans now with this always in the back of my head.

And I wish it had snowed more here and it was still sticking to sidewalks and rooftops.

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