Perched in Our Nest on Top of the City

We live here now. On one of the top floors! When we spent our first night in the apartment, Monster looked out our ceiling to floor windows and declared that we have a $2M view! And I concur! From our living room, we can see the waterway and bridges in the east, then a full scan of downtown Vancouver (and Richmond in the far distance), then the snow-capped mountains on the west.

Our space is small but so cozy. Right now, we are waiting for our couch to be delivered and haven't determined if we want to put a table and chairs or an island in the open concept space around the kitchen. So, its just us and our bed. Monster called our situation a nest on top of the city. It is! Just a little perch by which to observe the world.

And so accessible to everything we need and want! Yesterday, after cleaning and organizing our little home, we walked a few blocks over to see Jim Carrey's "A Christmas Carol" in 3-D. On our walk home, we stopped at the grocery store and bought french bread, Havarti cheese, raspberries, grapes, nuts and chocolate. I had some champagne from the retreat that I was saving for a special occasion. We spread our bounty out upon our bedspread and had a picnic while looking down on the busy streets below. Christmas lights are going up everywhere and the view is festive!

Last night, we even slept with the blinds up and woke up periodically to watch the sky turn from clear to foggy to clear again, with a full moon sweeping through the window.

This apartment is a symbol for us of the rewards for following our dreams. We started out in a very suburban area in the Southern U.S. We knew we were unhappy as homeowners in the 'burbs but didn't know how to fix it. Driving to work, driving to the grocery store, driving everywhere was normal--everyone did it. So much driving that Monster and I each had cars and car payments and it seemed we were always on the road.

Then, I spent some time in England and travelled to London every weekend. I feel in love with London and I knew that I wanted to live a city life, where all the best shops and cafes are right at your disposal and you can walk to work and to activities instead of driving. Monster felt the same way after visiting me.

So, we decided to move to a city--but which one? It took some time to come up with what we now know was the most logical choice all along--Vancouver.

Our move to Vancouver was hard--so hard--and so many, many things went wrong. For awhile, we were the poorest we had ever been: living in a run-down apartment, me in law school, Monster not even able to enter the country, sending money back. The U.S. dollar was worth less than Canadian and we seemed to lose out at every turn. But we stuck it out.

Now, here we are, two and a half years later, living our dream of urban dwelling. I am so proud of us for sticking it out, for following our hearts and going through all the disasters and heartbreaks it took to get us here in our little nest uptop the city.