An open letter to my first apartment...

Dear Apartment 1,

The first time I met you, I knew you would be home. Broken stone steps led up to your tiny porch - perfect for my small iron cafe table and chairs. Your wood trimmed windows with thick window sills flooded the rooms with natural light - perfect for the kitties. Your slick floors were just waiting to be slid across in wool socks. You were warm and inviting - 450 square feet of potential.

Your worn hardwood floors told stories of your previous tenants. I was just another resident for you, but for me you were a big deal. You would be where my business started, and the place I made the decision to become a full time photographer. You would be the place I came home to when my grandmother died, and the place where I learned to grieve. You would be the place where I worked on self discovery, and started to love myself again.

I was nearly giddy when I picked up the keys. Your empty walls, cabinets, and closets were soon filled with parts of me. Your walls full of the artwork that I had been collecting for years in preparation of you. The sunflower paintings that Mom and I painted together at a Wine and Canvas event hung above my secondhand couch. Below it, your wall held my IKEA shelves decorated with a closed ecosystem from a dear friend and a cute little clock from Mom. You held all of my favorite things. You became a part of me.

I fell in love with every part of you, from the creak that the floor made between the living room and kitchen, to the warm circle the heater emitted when the weather got chilly. The neighborhood cats soon discovered my kitties and spent many days sitting on the ground outside your windows. You got lots of attention that season. Between the neighborhood cats and the bird feeder outside one of your living room windows, my cats loved you nearly as much as I did.

Within a few months, Kevin moved in. I loved you so much already and then you became even more special because you were our first home together. I'm sure you saw many fights and laughs and lots of love, and we are so thankful our love could grow in your walls.

You will house many more people and many more memories. I hope your future tenants love you as much as I did.

I am so so thankful that Karlie Jo Photography was able to capture this moment in my life.

Thank you for everything,

Grace