THANK YOU

      I had a dream this morning right before I woke up that my old landlord found so many things in my apartment that were not cleaned or thrown out.  There was a potato that grew to be about eight pounds! It looked like a baby.  I was so happy to wake up in my double bed in my new home.  I never had a double bed my whole life.  My last place was quaint and cute and in the beginning, it was fine.  Plus, the added bonus of my cousin living downstairs, who I adore.  But as time went on, the rent got higher, my cousin moved out, and the place was sold a few times. This last landlord, who has owned the place for nine years, refused to do much, such as paint it.  Or change the carpeting that looked like it had been there since the seventies.  My favorite experience with him was when an outlet piece was coming out of the wall, and I told him.  So, he wadded up a paper towel, and wedged it between the outlet and the wall to keep it secure.  That was it.  That's how he fixed it.  When I showed him last year an area in the living room where the plaster was falling out of the wall, he said, "I'll get to that this summer."  So far, nothing.  A few years ago, he came into my bathroom when I wasn't home and there was water on the bathroom floor.  Not a lot.  Just a small amount from when I stepped out of the tub that morning.  He was so upset and said I must be leaving the bathtub running, and walk away letting the tub overflow.  I don't know what he was talking about.  The floor in the kitchen was crumbling and I do mean crumbling. Pieces were breaking off especially around the refrigerator. When I woke up this morning, I had such gratitude that I was out of there.  I giggle with delight when I see my living room with a new couch that people left here.  I marveled at the a kitchen, complete with a a built in oven, when I made banana bread the other night.  Yesterday, my landlord/roommate said, "Next week we'll get a board made to put under your mattress to make it firmer."  What I'm saying is, he GAVE me this beautiful bed and since I sink into the mattress, he's fixing it to make it firmer for me. The feeling I have is gratitude.  It's the same gratitude I had when I came home from the hospital, and knew I would walk again.  It's freedom.  I sat on the deck this morning thinking what a perfect place this is to heal.  When I drive out of his beautiful driveway and see his neighborhood, I look in the rear-view mirror and catch myself smiling..
Somebody pinch me.