No Place Like Home

I have to say that our little apartment has come a long way from the moment we rented it. The previous tenants have the living room walls painted the color of grass and the kitchen and bathroom floors has seen their better days (to say the least). We live in a tiny one bedroom apartment in Rexburg, Idaho, where we both have a year left of school before completing our undergraduate studies from BYU-Idaho. Much like the rest of the town, the apartment seemed...neglected, and we had our work cut out for us. Still, our minor complaints were easy to reconcile with the fact that rent would be cheap and we'd be living close to campus! Plus, we had the enthusiastic approval and support of our landlords, who seemed thrilled to have tenants who actually cared to change the appearance of their apartment.

Our first step before moving in was to have our landlords remodel the floors. Once that work was completed, in a significantly short amount of time, we got to work on painting the walls of the living room a reasonable tone of green (which worked for me, since green is my favorite color). It might have otherwise been an impossible task if it hadn't been for the help of Chris' roommates and my father, although they encountered a challenge trying to hide every trace of the yucky shade of forest green that had been suffocating the light of our living room. In a few weeks we managed to get our bedroom and bathroom painted cream, and our kitchen painted red (colors provided by our generous landlords).

As Chris and I were still in school during this time of apartment preparation, each trying to juggle about 19 credit hours, we enjoyed the help and support of friends and family who eagerly helped us put the apartment together by offering extensive cleaning, careful painting, generous furniture donations, and uplifting words. It was truly a blessing, as I cannot explain the marvelous way in which every little detail seemed to work out perfectly in any other word.

However, in spite of all the hard work, we couldn't have found a better location to live in the small town of Rexburg. After all, the apartment is right in the middle of the busiest part of this small town, surrounded by Sammy's Cafe, salons, arcades, restaurants, etc. In fact, our apartment complex is directly above the Craze Fun Zone, a location famous for lazer tag and black light miniature golf. In my eyes, the business of the little strip we live on reflects the revival of this small town, and resembles the feeling of living in a big city once again.

These days, Chris and I are enjoying the simple pleasures of life, like having a fridge to call our own; one that we don't have to share with 5 other people. No more 5 gallons of milk taking up half of the shelves in the fridge. Nor do we have to label each individual product with our names. And better yet, among the other abandoned glamors of life in single housing in college, we no longer run the danger of being the last person to leave the apartment who has to dispose of the one item that has been molding in someone's Tupperware all semester long who nobody seems to claim. There sincerely, is no other joy than having a space to call our own; a place we can decorate in any way we're so moved in order to reflect our unique personalities, histories, life experiences, and styles. Having our own little apartment bring to life the mantra, there's truly no place like home.