Things Albany Has Taught Me.

The things I have learned from living in the frozen tundra of Albany in a little over a week are many. They are more than I expected to learn, and all of them are not surprising.

1. I still hate the cold weather and have come up with a special curse word just for the cold. However, I noticed that I don’t hate the cold weather so much, if I dress appropriately, which includes gloves and an actual winter coat. The cold weather is also not so bad if you don’t have to leave the warmth of the house you are living in, I have actually found this makes a HUGE difference. I have also learned that the people who live up here don’t find this to be an unusually cold winter.

2. Surprisingly I’ve learned I am very much a city/apartment girl. We are temporarily renting a house that isn’t really in the country, but by no means is it in the city. It is a suburbia that only the Northeast can understand. I do not like living in a house because there are too many sounds that are described by “it’s an old house” or “it’s just the house settling”. The second night we were at this house, Rob was sound asleep on the couch, and I heard a very loud sound on the deck. Rob didn’t hear it AT ALL and stayed sound asleep, however, I was sure we would be in the paper as a couple shot to death in a rental home and their bodies were found days later frozen. There are too many responsibilities that come with living in a house that you don’t even have to think about when you live in an apartment. However, I am grateful for this house and to the friends who helped us find it because it is much better than living in a hotel.

3. I still hate mice more than anything. There was a mouse in this house that we are renting when we first got here. Mice are my least favorite thing, and I will 100% consider moving and leaving everything behind when I find one in my house. The second night we stayed here we set a trap, put it in a paper bag on the counter and went to bed. For the next three mornings, I refused to come downstairs to the kitchen unless Rob went first and checked the bag. We never caught that stupid mouse, but I’m certain he is part of the noises you read about in number 2. I also didn’t appreciate that Rob felt the need to name him Jerry.

4. The cold and the new scenery have ignited my creativity. For a while in Nashville my creativity was dead, I was struggling on a daily basis to figure out what I should write about, and certain I had written all the words in my head. Turns out I still have some thoughts and words left and have written a ton since we have been here.

6. My husband continues to be my constant source of entertainment. One of the very first things that I adored about Rob was his humor. He can lift me out of the worse of moods with just a silly voice or four words. Now do not get me wrong, there are plenty of times when it is too much or the wrong time, but nine times out of ten he instantly makes me feel better. But the biggest thing about Rob and his humor is, he has made me a funnier person, and I am extremely grateful for that, because, without humor, he might be living up here by himself.

7. My children will be fine without me and so will I. I hate talking on the phone more than anything, and I have lovingly passed that hatred on to my daughter Alison. My son Raymond, on the other hand, will talk on the phone for hours, if he has the time in his schedule; but then again, my son Raymond will talk for hours whether you are on the phone with him or not, he is just a talker. But in the age of texting, you lose the sound of what a person is saying. For instance, your child can text to you “I’m fine” but they need to wipe the screen of their phone every five minutes because it is covered in tears or it could very much be the angry version of “I’m fine”, you just can’t tell with a text. When I was having that moment last week, you remember the one, the one when I was certain my children couldn’t live without me, Alison picked up the phone and called me. It was just what I needed and made me realize it was all going to be ok.

 I’m going to be fine here in Albany. It will not be cold forever. We will eventually move out of this rental house to our cute apartment in Schenectady. Rob’s humor will remain a constant in my life. I will start working, and my mind will have less time to worry. But most of all my children will not forget who I am and will continue to need me as I will continue to need them. Things are good, I am good and today the sun is shining.