Chocolate Milk and Avocados

I used to sail into a new place and bam, it was home. Now it seems to take a while for me to acclimate. Perhaps because I am older and perhaps because I live alone. I lived two years out in North Carolina and it was just starting to really feel like home when I moved. There was food in the freezer, condiments in the refrigerator and the furniture had been rearranged several times.

Here nearly everything is new. I was reluctant to buy too much too fast. Partially because of the cost and also because I want to be sure I get just the right things. That is always the way I have done things, waited until just the right thing appears. Only now it seems sort of pointless. All those years I spent accumulating lovely old things and bright novel things and they are gone.

I bought a top quality mattress and recliner, a good computer and the rest will most likely be a bit more trendy. I love my dishes and silverware, got them at an upscale discount store. No longer the blue and white porcelain that was my trademark for so many years, these are more Tuscany. The tv stand was just downright cheap, but it got the tv off the floor. My side table is really a library ladder I bought on clearance and my dining table is made of rubberwood, an environmentally friendly wood. I am choosing to use eclectic side chairs, one from my sister's basement and one I have yet to find, then supplementing with a folding chair in the closet and my computer chair if I need it.

All I have in the refrigerator are the basics, orange juice, butter, eggs, cheese, romaine, avocados, chocolate milk and ice water. In the cupboards I have salt and pepper, garlic powder and coffee. I can eat off of this for quite a while, but eventually I will need to branch out.

I am also noticing that I really can't see the tv anymore. It is too small for my eyes, so buying a larger flat screen may come sooner rather than later. A couch would be nice too, but it isn't really essential yet. And I think I might buy one of those large electric fireplaces for this winter, the kind that look real, but aren't. These are just fun things, not necessities.

As I sat in my living room tonight I had the feeling that the place is very slowly morphing into me. Somehow the corners are softening and colors are coagulating into a style that says I live here. Now I need to add some homey smells, maybe brownies, or pot roast, just some memories that will remind me that I am truly home.