Throwback Thursday

I moved to Florida with my friend Kim because I had decided that the pool business was something I wanted to stay in, and the company that I worked for in Indiana had openings in this part of Florida.  That didn't pan out, but we both managed to find employment elsewhere.  Kim's grandparents lived in Florida in two side by side apartments where they removed a wall so that it was one big apartment.  They only used the living area in the second apartment so they allowed Kim and I to use the bedroom and the kitchen in the other half.  We never used the kitchen.  Kim's step grandmother cooked for us.  We lived there for a couple of months before we found a place of our own.

I found the condo that we rented in the newspaper.  It wasn't far from Kim's grandparents and was under foreclosure.  It was two bedrooms and two baths and it sat on a lake.  It was beautiful and perfect for what we wanted.  The only problem we had was we had no furniture, except for a patio set that was in the condo, and so we rented two beds and a couch and relied on hand me downs from her grandparents and their group of friends.

The first day we moved in was when I was introduced to the alligator that lived in the lake.  He liked to crawl up and sun by the lamp post outside our condo.  The neighbor next to us thought it was because her cat liked to come and sit on the enclosed balcony.  I only saw the alligator that one time, but every night I came home from work I thought about him lurking.  The parking lot was in the back and I had to walk around the side yard to the entrance to our condo.  I worked nights so it was always dark when I got home.  I made sure to stay on the pavement.  As if alligators didn't walk on concrete.

We never used air conditioning in that condo because the breeze coming off the lake was always cool enough and we moved out before the summer months.  This view is looking out from the pool.  The pool was just down the walkway from our place.

When I wasn't working I would come out at night and swim laps.  I never saw anyone ever use the pool, but it was always kept in pristine shape.  I would make sure that Kim was home when I swam and I told her to come looking for me if I wasn't back in thirty minutes.  I would swim back and forth in the glow of the moon and the pool lights, but I never lasted thirty minutes.  As I swam I kept imagining the alligator slithering up and sliding into the pool with me. 

My mom came to stay with us for about a month after we moved in.  That's the enclosed porch.  We moved the patio furniture inside to use as our kitchen table so when we wanted to sit out there we had to drag the chairs out there.  Mostly we just left the sliding doors open to let the breeze in.  It was a great piece of property.  My mother talked about buying it with Kim's parents and renting it us.  We both wish now that they had done it.

We only left the place because I was leaving to return to work in Indiana for the summer.  We were afraid that the bank would find an owner to purchase the place and Kim would be responsible to move everything on her own.  My mom found our next apartment as she was driving to hit golf balls at a range.  It was on a road that had three apartment complexes, and we chose the one that was directly across the street from the city's recreation Olympic size pool, thinking I could work there instead of where I worked thirty minutes away.  That never happened because the pool was closed in the winter.

It was nowhere as nice as what we had just lived in, but we got along fine there.  We had a nice couple that lived across from us.  They left the apartment every night at ten as I was just getting home from work.  They always left carrying  full trash bags and returned empty handed after midnight.  Kim and I spent many a night spying on them from our windows and inventing scenarios for them.

Each apartment had an open air balcony in the back with a planter box.  I bought real plants in the beginning, but after they died I put in fake flowers and pretended to water them whenever people came to visit.  From the inside of the apartment looking out they were very real looking.  I fooled my dad for quite some time until he finally ventured out on to the balcony.  Once while I was dating Tom he tried to climb up the balcony.  We were cooking dinner and while the sauce was simmering I went to take a shower.  Tom went to throw out the trash or something, forgetting that the front door locked automatically behind him.  He kept knocking and knocking, but I was in the shower and didn't hear him.  He had visions of the stove catching on fire so he tried to climb the balcony.  My little Romeo didn't make it.  Good thing I was quick in the shower.

The apartment was a two bedroom with two baths, a living room, and a small kitchen.  It wasn't very well insulated and we spent tons of money on air conditioning during the summer months.  I spent tons of time rearranging the living room every time I cleaned.  Kim was always good about letting me do that.

 

When we moved into the apartment we only had our rented furniture, but Kim and I eventually moved our own belongings there.  My mom bought us a sofa bed couch and Kim's parents bought us a kitchen table and chairs.  It was quite the cozy little place for two single chicks and we made sure to do plenty of entertaining.

What?  It's Florida.  Lots of older people living here.  No, this was a birthday party for Kim.  Her grandparents and their group of friends, the best group ever, came to party down with us.  They are all gone now, but I think of them often.  They helped us in many ways over the years.

We lived there for several years until we both got married.  I stayed in Florida.  Kim and her husband moved to Ohio.  I pass my old apartment complex every day taking the girls to school.  I pass by the street that leads to the condo every once in awhile.  They were both great starter places for us and our new beginnings.