Monday, October 02, 2006

I Wonder if People Wonder

The kids and I moved into this apartment after my husband got deployed. He did get to come home one weekend before he left and he saw what it looks like, but other than that, he's never lived here.
We had a house that we sold. A cute little three bedroom house with a nice playroom in the basement and a big fenced in backyard. The neighborhood was pretty good, too. I could let the kids play out front or ride their bikes in the street without too much worry. There was always someone around for them to play with.
Drew got into it with the people across the street once and we stopped playing with those kids, but other than that, they had a lot of friends.
So here we are, in an apartment that looked really big until we moved all of our crap in. There is a private entrance, and three bedrooms. The room that Drew and Hunter share is huge. There are two bathrooms (I get one all to myself!) The kitchen is small as hell, though. There's a dining area that I can only fit a tiny round table in (good thing I already had one) and it's a good thing my husband isn't here because with the high chair for Hunter, only three chairs fit around the table. Also a garage that is filled to the very top with all the crap that seemed to fit nicely in my house.
Ok, so my point is, it's small, and I'm tired of it!
But I wonder a lot of times, as I see my neighbors looking at me, what do they think? Do they wonder why they never see a man go in and out of my place? Do they wonder why I have three kids, no husband, and yet, don't work?
I only talk to the people directly underneath me. They are older, ok, really old, like mid-80's, but really nice. They tolerate our noise and the lady has told me that days we are away all day she gets lonely without the constant pitter-patter. She jokingly asks if Drew ever walks, or does he just run all the time! I can hear their giant grandfather clock chime off the quarter, half, and full hours. Drew is constantly dropping things off the balcony, and the old lady always puts them on our doorstep. Some days we have a whole Hot Wheel collection sitting out front. Then Drew gets one of those looks from me. You know, the, Why did you do that? look!
When we first moved in last April, the girl next to me said she apologizes ahead of time if her cat disturbs us. CAT? Disturb us? Ummm.... I don't get it! A dog would disturb us, but a cat? I said, well, I have three rowdy and wild kids who are used to their own house, so I apologize for them! (Trumped her cat, didn't I?!)
Every once in awhile, though, I'll catch a look from someone. Someone who I know wonders. Wonders just how it is that I'm living here with no man, and seemingly no job.
On the other hand, the manager of the complexes knows my story and he likes to talk about everyone. So maybe everyone already knows and I'm just being paranoid!

11 comments:

NYC TAXI SHOTS said...

hope your husband makes it home safe

Chaos Mommy said...

Thank you! Very cool blog!

scrapperjen said...

Who cares what they think????? If you're that worried, get a yellow ribbon for your door.
HUGS to you! Hang in there!

Chaos Mommy said...

Oh, I have a Blue Star flag in my window, but sometimes it's fun to just wonder!

navywife6 said...

LOL OMG this one was a hoot. I wonder what people think about hubbys Mustang never leaving the driveway and why a woman as obviously good looking as I am would drive a mini-van. Oh yeah thats right its his car, and I am not "that good looking" oh and I have 4 kids LOL.

Oh well nice to know I'm not alone wondering what the rest of the world is thinking of us LOL.

Anonymous said...

Be an enigma, darling:)
Let them wonder all they want... got to give the public something to think about, right? And who knows, maybe those wonderings will be far more exciting than anything we would actually get to experience!!

Roe said...

I'm with Jen, be an enigma! It's very chic. ;-)

We live in a Junior 4 apartment, so I'm with you (a Jr 4 is a 2BR but smaller). And we also had the sweetest woman downstairs who loved hearing my boys thunder up and down the rooms for the same reason; she never felt lonely! She just passed away a few months ago at 99 - we miss her.

And lord, I hope the next neighbor likes ruckus!

Chaos Mommy said...

Oh, I'm sorry, Roe! What a great thing that she lived that long on her own, though!
And it's impossible to keep them quiet, isn't it?!

Jen, you're right, what they imagine is probably far more exciting than what's going on!

Sandy said...

Well, if it makes you feel better, my neighbor has four kids, a house of decent size, no job...and no husband around.

She does, however, have a parade of boyfriends. ;)

I'm with Jen, be an enigma. And if that gets dull, start inviting lots of contractors in for various quotes you'll never use just to get the 'parade of men' effect. (Holy cow, I so need to go to bed. I am delirious)

Anonymous said...

I say next time someone looks at you like they are curious, go up an intro yourself... that will make their face change really quickly! That is great the couple living under you don't mind the noise... when we lived in our apartment the guy would get out a baseball bat and bang on the ceiling if Cale sneezed! Somehow even if you tip toed he would know where you where standing and bang until you stopped talking... turns out the crazy guy had baseball bats lining the house (or so the cop told me). You won't be there forever don't worry!

Chaos Mommy said...

Hmmm.... parade of men!!! ((wheels turning)) I could make that work for me!!!

Amber, so the "cop" told you?!!! Do I want to know what that means?! LOL