This Time Three Years Ago

Here's this time last year and here's two years ago.  

This time three years ago I was living in a giant apartment that was owned by graduate student housing at the University of Chicago.  It was literally twice the size of the place I'd just moved out of in Austin, and it had the biggest and best closet I'd ever had, before or since.  I had one east facing window and three west facing windows, a big living room and bedroom, and amazing views from the sixth floor.  I lived across the street from the girl who was quickly becoming my grad school best friend, and I was walking distance from campus.  It was the first time I didn't hate living alone.  I really loved that apartment.

This time three years ago I had quit my stable, boring job on the eve of the greatest economic recession my generation had ever seen and moved 1,100 miles away to a completely new city where I didn't know a single person.  Thinking about it in those terms still takes my breath away.  Instead of being terrified, though, I was completely exhilarated.  I LOVED school, and I was so happy to be back to studying and going to classes all day instead of being trapped in a cube doing something I didn't love.  It was challenging and scary and amazing.

This time three years ago I started to get really serious about living a frugal life and saving money.  I almost never ate out.  I bargain shopped for food at places like the Aldi store on 67th and Cottage Grove, which was deep in the 'hood on the south side.  Kristina, myself, and usually a few other girls would trek down there together and stock up on $1 boxes of pasta, off-brand cereal, and beans and other non-perishables, which is what I would cook any time I actually attempted to make something in my tiny, galley-style kitchen.  I only bought food that was on sale and would freeze anything I couldn't eat right away.  I packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to take to the library for lunch every single day, and I considered paying $1 for coffee from the coffee shop in the basement of the library a splurge. 

This time three years ago I had just started dating D.  I remember gushing about him to a friend who had been with her boyfriend for three years at that point (they're no longer together).  She told me she thought I was too over the moon about him, and that his flaws would soon start to bother me and then the thrill would be gone.  Turns out three years later I'm still just as crazy about him, if not more so.  We had been on a few dates, including a near-disastrous first date, and I found myself wanting to spend more and more time with him.  I spent hours upon hours in the library Monday through Friday so that the weekends were ours to be together, exploring and having fun in Chicago.

This time three years ago I had just seen Obama get elected President.  My faith in the political system had been restored after a hard eight years, and I felt optimistic and light.  I was finally living in a state where the majority of people saw things the way I did, politically speaking, after having spent 24 years in the sea of red that is Texas.  I was happy, studying something I loved in a city I was learning to love, and definitively felt like it was where I was supposed to be.