This was our last weekend in the condo. When I think about it, it’s almost surreal. If someone had told me a year ago that we’d be moving out of the condo and into a house, I would have laughed. But, here we are, a few days away from saying good-bye to the condo and welcoming our new home – and the next chapter of our lives.

Leaving the condo will be hard for both of us, although I’m not sure who will have a harder time with it, S or I. It was the first home that S purchased a home for herself and she’s been here over five years. I’ve only been here two years but I tend to be the more emotional one. Even though I moved into the apartment after fleeing the nest, I was only there a handful of months and I never really made it my own. I moved in with S shortly after and this became my home, our home.

We have a lot of memories tied into this place. I still remember the night of our second date. I was meeting S at her place and we were going to be having dinner in her neighbourhood. I remember being full of nervous energy and eagerly counting down to when I would be seeing her again. The streetcar ride from one end of the city to the other felt especially longer than usual. It had been a week since we’d had our first date and we had spoken on the phone for hours at a time everyday since. I arrived at the condo and had my breath taken away when she opened the door to greet me. She looked even more beautiful than I had remembered.  We had a great second date and many more memories followed the last few years.

How did we spend our last weekend here? Packing, getting more boxes, trying to figure out what furniture would go where and buying new furniture. Thanks to our good friend Craig, we were able to pick up a very sleek dark brown sideboard for a price our wallets greatly appreciated. I got off the phone with the seller and told S I thought he was family.

When we got to his place, our suspicions were confirmed. The man was the gayest gay that ever gayed.  After taking some measurements, we figured we’d be able to take the piece with us. “Is it heavy?” I asked.

“Not at all,” Mr. Gay began, “my wife and I brought it downstairs ourselves.” My mind screamed with the incongruity of the situation. Mr. Gay had a wife?! I looked over at S and I could tell by the lowered eyebrows that she was trying to compute it as well.

Mr. Gay helped us load the piece into our truck and we were on our way to the storage unit to drop it off. We were so distracted by Mr. Gay’s revelation that he had a wife; we barely had time to process that we probably wouldn’t be able to carry the sideboard into the storage unit ourselves.

At the storage facility, we quickly carted it out from the truck and into the elevator. Our adventure began once we got off the elevator. We had placed the piece on a towel and hoped to drag it along to the unit. Ha! We inched it along for a few feet and then gave up on that idea and tried to carry it. A few bruises and a fair bit of sweating later, we gave up on that idea and went back to dragging it along on the towel. We finally got it in place and headed to find ourselves a bed, but not from our friend Craig.

S and I were starving from having been running errands all day and not stopping for lunch. We passed a supermarket on our way home and stopped in for some asparagus. I figured I’d go in myself but S announced she would be coming in too. “I might want a snack,” she said impishly.

Ten minutes later, we walked out of the market with two packages of cookies, two bags of chips, two kinds of dipping sauces, a breadstick, a carton of Misou soup, four bottles of different flavoured water and two bunches of asparagus.

I really shouldn’t complain though. Considering how hungry she was and how much we were struggling with the sideboard, there could have easily been a rage incident. I am thankful the peace was kept.

The next few days will be a whirlwind with all of the last minute details that need to be addressed. I keep thinking that a week from now, I’ll be in my new home, with the love of my life, my pets kids and a fresh page on which to write our next chapter.

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