Kindess of strangers and other musings of my new space.....

Sleeping in a new place is always trying.
I remember my summer in Guadalajara, Mexico. We were overwhelmed by the smog when we flew in, arrived at our guest house and settled in for the night. We--Jean, Liz, and I--were living with a single mom and two of her three daughters. The first night, we had a few drinks and retired to the room.
There were no screens on the windows and it was stifling in the house. The ceiling fan lacked and so we were eaten alive, all night, by the mosquitoes. Plus, since it was a new place, it was difficult to relax and let the mind quiet. I was miserable. I felt that I had taken a shower in the bed because of how much I had sweat. It was awful.
Last night, I heard the familiar sounds of the street. Living on Logan provided ample car noise and so that was moderately familiar. There are more people out walking, in this area, and so that was new. I woke up, a few times, startled, by how near the noises were to my bedroom. I slept okay, but this morning, I realized that I had completely wrecked my sheets. I don't know how, but I was sleeping on the mattress. Apparently, I tossed and turned a lot, last night.
The cable guy was scheduled to arrive between 7-8 am. They informed me that it was imperative to be at home at this time since I was the first appointment of the day. They stressed the importance. I woke up and waited. I hit the snooze button, a few times, but in every sense of the word, I was ready for the internet provider.
8:00 am came and went. I knew the weather was bad--moved in it--but, still I was ready to cut the guy some slack. At 8:30, I called Comcast to inquire if they were, in fact, working today and where the guy was. He called me, set up my internet connection, and told me that they waiving the installation fee since he was late. LOVED IT!!!
And, love the neighborhood. Yes, Capitol Hill is eclectic. In my house, I found a few items of interest--burnt spoons and a couple of syringes. Lovely. I am basically naive when it comes to drugs, but I figure that they previous tenant was a complete junkie. I cleaned my new space before my old space. I had to. I did not feel comfortable with my findings.
Afterwards, I walked to Whole Foods. I wanted pasta. I walked in, met a girl named, Erica. I told her that I was excited to live in the neighborhood since I loved Whole Foods. I walked away, in search of veggies. 10 minutes later, Erica approached me with a reuseable bag. She handed it to me and said--this is a welcome to the neighorhood bag. In it, there was an orange, chocolate, turkey jerky and a vitamin water. It was lovely and made me think of the kindness of strangers. Yes, there are good people in the world.
And yes, the move to Capitol Hill is positive and full of possibility. I love my new space.