Kristen McLane

Posted by Kristen McLane on March 3rd, 2008 in Daily Life, Family, Relationships

Yesterday in church part of the service was spent affirming marriage. Those of us who were married were encouraged to remember the first few years of marriage when presumably all newlyweds are more rich in love than in material goods.

My memories take me back ten years ago when Adam and I were newly married and living in our first apartment in Chicago. I can’t remember for sure but I think our apartment was on the eleventh floor. All the units in the building were either studio apartments or one bedrooms. Our one bedroom apartment had a tiny kitchen (think half-sized appliances) tucked into one corner. Entering the apartment you would immediately walk into the living room which barely had enough room for a computer desk, a second-hand sofa and a television. My father in-law intended to give us a nice dining room table as a wedding gift but there was no space for a full size table. Adam made a cute little table for two that we somehow squeezed into the “dining room” (the space between the couch and the kitchen). The bedroom was barely large enough for our queen sized bed. For the first few weeks of marriage we slept on a mattress on the floor until we could purchase a bed frame. I don’t think the apartment had air conditioning. The bedroom did have a ceiling fan. One day the ceiling fan malfunctioned and spiraled down onto our bed. Thankfully no one was injured. The neatest feature of the apartment were built-in drawers between the bedroom and tiny bathroom. (There was no room in the bedroom for actual dressers.) Unfortunately all the woodwork in the apartment, including the built-ins, had been painted so many times that none of the doors, windows or drawers opened or closed properly. One last detail of the apartment was that instead of carpeting it had parquet floors. Oh yes, we were living in style.

Adam and I refer to this period of our lives as the Early Modern Ghetto years in terms of style. True, we didn’t have much. We were both young (21) and in love. Our style has grown-up and evolved through the years. But the Early Modern Ghetto years will always have a special place in my heart.