Finding ‘Home’…Again

By Sharon Synowsky

When I moved into The Loft in 2018, I told my sons, “This is the place I finally feel HOME.”

You see, at that point, it was our third move since my husband’s unexpected death in 2013. We moved from the county my husband grew up in back to the county I grew up in. My family is here.

We had no family left in the other county.

The first apartment we had was a 2 bedroom, which meant the boys had to share a room. They were sharing a room in the old home, so no big deal. Until they turned 14 and 11. Then it was a big deal – not because of privacy issues, but because it was as if Oscar Madison and Felix Unger were sharing a room. (For those who don’t get the reference, think persnickety sharing a room with messy)

So, we found a new apartment, in a converted old Victorian house. It had 3 bedrooms, a deck and the landlord lived on the first floor. I thought that would be a good thing. Just knock on his door if something needed fixed and he’d get right on it. Not only was I wrong – really, really, wrong – about that, but came to learn that he and his fiancé are bad neighbors – really, really, bad. Loud fights, loud music, loud parties…

And I never felt like the place was ‘home’. It always just felt like a place where we hung out, where we stored our stuff and where we slept.

Then, I found The Loft. I fell in love with it from the pictures posted on Zillow. And I recognized the building – the storefront below The Loft, which was a tattoo shop in 2018, used to be a photography studio. And in 1986, it was the photography studio where I had my Senior pictures taken. Turned out the landlord, John, was the photographer. He retired and closed the studio but kept the building. John was also the ex-husband of my 5th grade teacher. And The Loft was even better in person.

MEANT TO BE!

John thought so too and offered me the apartment on the spot. I signed the lease and on November 1, 2018, we moved in. I immediately felt like The Loft was ‘home’. It was a 4 bedroom, all on one level, with a huge, beautiful deck. I told the Boys that The Loft was the last place I would ever live.

Then, in 2021, John decided to retire from being a landlord. He sold off all of his properties. Unfortunately, he sold the building The Loft was in to Eddie (grrr!). Eddie is not a good guy. In the 3 years he has owned the building, 5 people have tried to open a business in the storefront. All 5 have broken their lease because Eddie sucks.

I will not list all of the crap he pulled with me throughout the 3 years I stupidly, stubbornly resisted moving from my ‘home’. I will give just one example – I went without heat for two months (October & November in Western PA). Eddie kept telling me his guy was going to be there to fix it ‘tomorrow’. I ended up calling in an HVAC repairman and paying $200 to get heat for my sons and me. When I included the bill and deducted the $200 from the rent, Eddie tried to kick me out – through a text.

After 3 years of his gaslighting, bullying, ignoring repair requests and attempting to ‘evict’ me through texts and with no legal grounds, I realized The Loft no longer felt like ‘home’. Eddie ruined that sense of comfort and security. It was time to leave.

So, as my lease was coming to an end, I gave Eddie a Notice of Termination of Lease, explaining that I would not be renewing my lease for The Loft. Eddie sent me the following text:
“I just received your termination of lease.  I’m confused, are you staying or leaving?”

I’m sure people across the country could hear my eyes roll when I read that text. Idiot.

Anyway, I found a 3 bedroom in the neighborhood next over. We are now in a duplex – we have the second and third floors. The gentleman in the first floor apartment is exactly that – a gentleman, very kind and helpful. Aaron the landlord is a DREAM! I am extremely happy and comfortable with these people.

Now, it took me a month to move – and here’s why…

The Executive Director of my company decided that my Division would move to the new building – at the same time I was moving house. So, I spent 19 hours a day for 2 weeks packing and moving boxes. Or, in the case of the home move, packing, moving, and unpacking boxes because we had a limited number of boxes and needed to reuse them

And, as big of an a-hole as Eddie is, I wanted to leave The Loft as clean as possible. After all, it had been my ‘home’, and as such, it deserves respect, even though Eddie doesn’t.

I will miss my Loft.

However, I have high hopes for the new place. The Boys are comfortable and content. (now that they’re 23 & 20, I guess I should refer to them as something other than ‘Boys’. Dudes? Guys? Men? Eh, that’s fodder for another story) I am, too, even though I am still unpacking boxes (found some more during the final week of packing up The Loft) and moving things around, trying to find the perfect way to set up the space. I’m enjoying every second of setting up house.

A fresh start, after a rough, sad ending…

Once my WiFi router finally arrives, I can get back on my laptop and share more stories with you all. (The Router Fiasco is also another story…)

Watch this space…

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