Bye, House
A couple weeks ago, I sold my house.
We had a four bedroom, three bathroom house built in 1974, complete with a 70s-tastic dropped living room. We bought it in very early 2014, right after the recession ended and right before homes stopped being affordable in the Dallas suburbs. It wasn’t flawless by any stretch of the imagination, but we fixed what we could afford and begrudgingly lived with the stuff we couldn’t. And make no mistake, I am hyper aware of the immense privilege I had to own a house. I’m incredibly thankful I got the chance to have my own place and I’m always reminded that there are many people who can’t. Hell, I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance again with the way home prices are now.
In a better world I would have stayed in that house forever. But between the rising heat and the rising boldness of the right wing, I just don’t feel safe in Texas anymore and I’ve got to move.
And that sucks! I liked that house. More than anything I liked my own personal retro gaming room, with its avocado green walls and wood paneling on one side. The house was built in the 70s, and I wanted this room to look as such. I actually added that (admittedly cheap-looking) manufactured wood paneling back to the room. When you're a kid, your room designs are governed by what your parents allow. When you live in an apartment, your room designs are governed by what your landlord will allow, or if you've made peace with losing your deposit. But this was my own room and I could made it look as tacky and chaotic as I wanted and god DAMN, it was amazing.
This biggest part was having to massively downsize from a four bedroom house (with garage and shed) to a one bedroom apartment. I’m not a hoarder, but I do like to collect things that make me happy, so this wasn't an easy task. I got a single mid-sized public storage locker to hold my favorite stuff, and everything else needed to go. I had to get rid of a lot of books, toys, records, and such, and it was pretty hard to choose what would stay and what would go. But the thing that made me feel better was knowing that someone out there would enjoy the stuff I had to give up. I gave a bunch of old books to local Little Free Libraries. Bag after bag of clothes went to local charities. I gave my entire closet of Warhammer 40k miniatures to a guy I met online who was looking for a fun activity to do with his son.
(Well, almost the entire closet, I kept a small carrying case to house my favorite Orks and my very first Tyranid carnifex.)
My biggest regret is having to get rid of my beloved 32” Sony Trinitron, but I found someone on the CRT Gaming subreddit who was more than happy to drive from Waxahachie to come take my big boy away. I hope that TV is getting the love it deserves. And I hope someday to be in a position where I have room for another Trinitron again.
We put up our dining room table at a local consignment store, sold our couches on Facebook Marketplace, gave my parents some old bookshelves, and donated the bed and dressers to Habitat to Humanity. The only remaining furniture was our computer desks, two flatscreen TVs, a TV stand, and an old Ikea Expedit shelf. The plan is to scour garage sales, estate sales, thrift stores, etc to get our other furniture wherever we wind up next. Not sure if it’s karma per se, but I do think that if you please the Thrift Gods with good donations, amazing thrift finds are in your future.
At this exact moment in time, my partner and I are fortunate enough to be staying with my parents, but the plan is to move to Minnesota or possibly Pittsburgh in the very near future. My job said they would let me transfer to Minneapolis up until a month ago, when I was then told it was no longer an option, but Pittsburgh was. I’m currently torn between staying with a company that I know fairly well and heading out to Pittsburgh, or quitting and going to Minneapolis, our preferred location. Lots to think about, lots of numbers to crunch and factors to consider. Both seem like valid options, which is more than I can say about Texas right now.