Last winter I found myself talking a lot about having to find an accessible apartment for Aleck in the future. I was looking at places on Zillow and Redfin, I was casually telling people how I really needed to find a building with a doorman and an elevator, but I kept adding a caveat, it’ll be for high school. You see, he’ll need the type of independence then that he can’t get with my place right now. I love my place but it’s a vintage two flat, it has 6 steps up and the front doors are super heavy. We will want a place where he can get in and out on his own. And the reaction was always, well how old he is now? He’s 11 and only in 5th grade, I’d answer, and then the following question was, “then why are you talking about this right now?” I wasn’t sure why I was talking about it so much except that it was clearly on my mind and my brilliant subconscious wanted to get on this project way sooner than the rest of my brain. But when Aleck broke his leg in May, the rest of me caught up quickly. Carrying him up those stairs was doable but brutal, and it’s not like he’s made of stainless steel and has handles or anything. Craig was making fun of how I couldn’t carry him up the stairs, not couldn’t, didn’t want to, as he came limping up to my back door one day explaining that I’d have to carry Aleck in today because Craig threw his back out moments before getting Aleck down his stairs. Mmmm hmmm, I don’t think so. I texted one of the most incredible men in my neighborhood who lived a block away and worked from home and agreed to be on call for me during this very complicated time. So Aleck and I sat and waited for Tim or Sergio to arrive knowing that at least I’d be physically safe to keep taking care of Aleck while he recovered from his broken tibia.
But I loved my place, I loved it’s separate dining room and vintage wood details. I loved the radiated heat, the large kitchen, and the view of this peaceful and serene neighborhood out my windows. The place was freaking Mayberry. Every morning the parents could be seen parading their kids to the local elementary school, stopping on the corners to greet their friends, drinking their coffees, carrying their scooters, and walking their dogs. I’ve never made more friends in one neighborhood, I’ve never felt more connected to the trees, the brick buildings, and my local dive bar than I did while living in Lincoln Square. I’ve never felt safer, living without another adult, walking my dog at night or before dawn, only a few blocks to Harvest Time for a last minute produce run and tying Sox up outside I knew she’d be safe, and she always was. I was on text chains with other dog parents, I would get lost in conversations even on a frigid February evening, and when I needed someone to walk Sox I had a list of people I could contact to help me out when her doggy daycare was closed on a Saturday.
Plus, I knew what a new place meant for us. It meant a doorman, highrise building, a shoebox without a washer and dryer in the unit. It meant Aleck and I would be on top of each other living together and I’d lose what little privacy I had when he was around. It would also mean a huge change in the way I run about day to day. With valet parking I could no longer run in and out because I forgot my phone, I better have the darn thing with me before I walked out the door. It means that I can’t pass around keys to my neighbors in case I lock myself out, I also better have those in my pocket at all times. It means that I’ll have to be more careful about how I plan my days, about when to throw my sheets in for a wash on an entirely different floor, and who I have coming to visit me and when. The last time I lived in a building like this I was 22 and didn’t care if the doorman saw me stumble in at 5am with glitter on my face, will I care in this new type of living?
So I started my search, buildings in Edgewater mainly, and I ran away from each unit as they reeked of retirement homes thinly veiled as apartments, which makes sense because who needs accessible buildings most of the time, older people do. I tried to make non-doorman elevator places work and thought about Aleck, coming home from school, doing some shopping, having bags in his hand, and needing help with a key to unlock the door, or trying to pull it open with his hands full on a windy Chicago day. I even put in an application on a place like that in June, and was immediately rejected because of my employment status, a freelancer without a steady paycheck just wasn’t appealing to the building owner and I was crushed. It was then that I took a break. Maybe I don’t have to move NOW. Maybe I can wait. Maybe I can get my finances in order. Maybe the right place will magically appear. Maybe I can pull on my parents’ heartstrings for help. Then, at the beginning of September I woke up one morning like someone shot me out of a cannon and the words I said were very clear, we need to get out of here before the winter. I couldn’t face another season of navigating Aleck down icy snow-covered steps and then across an icy snow-covered broken concrete pathway into my garage. That felt like asking for May 2023 all over again and I wasn’t up for it. I went back into my search full steam ahead and couldn’t find a doorman elevator building unit for rent that was in my price range or wasn’t going to be an hour commute to school. I got my finances in order, I pulled on my parents’ heart strings (or purse strings) and went back to look for a condo. I mean, I had to do what I needed to do to give Aleck the type of place where he could comfortably live, even if it meant going broke trying to do it. I started checking out Lakeview East for options and found one on Irving Park and stared the process of buying this condo. But it had a few issues of its own; the unit was almost a city block away from the elevator, the building was very congested, the front door was a revolving door or the doorman could come to the front door to open it for Aleck. At first that seemed promising but then I saw how busy the doormen were and didn’t have much hope. The bedrooms were small and I’d have to stick my office in my bedroom for the first time since I was 22 living at Clark and Fullerton. There wasn’t a walk-in shower which was disappointing as Aleck has trouble swinging his legs over the sides of a bathtub, no balconies, and I could only walk Sox using the service elevator which I was warned ran even slower than the already jam packed regular elevators. On the flip side, it had a great living room and almost separate dining room, a cute kitchen, 4 big closets and an incredible view of the lake. The building had a pool and the place was full of energy and life. I started moving forward to buy this unit.
It was the Monday of my inspection and I had just spent two hours with the inspector in my unit. There had been a leak from the upstairs unit, but it had been fixed. He found two other potential leaks in the unit as well. The bathrooms would need to be retiled almost immediately, and there was warping in the floor by one of the bathrooms indicating another potential leak. On Tuesday I got on the phone with my lawyer to discuss these issues. That’s when he told me about a laundry list of projects the building was going to be tackling over the next three years. I was up all night in panic. On Wednesday I found two units for rent in Edgewater, I had been so involved in this purchase I had missed them when they were originally posted a week earlier. I called my agent, I told him my concerns and on Friday we saw both units. When we walked into the first one we looked at each and agreed, I could live here. That afternoon I filled out the application and on Saturday I got the notice that my application had been accepted. On Sunday I got the lease, signed it, and walked into Kol Nidre services overcome with relief but also kinda in disbelief, did I really just find a place to live that has everything I want?
Yes I did! And we moved in here two weeks ago. Everywhere there are stairs in the building there is a lift because this building is fully accessible! The elevators are fast, and Sox can go on any of them when they arrive. The doormen aren’t overwhelmed and even helped me with my gear the other day. The valets are thoughtful and the wait for my car is minimal. The Chicago L is two blocks away, the bus picks up right in front, there is a beach next door that’s small enough that Aleck can easily navigate his way into a lounge chair. Plus there is an Aldi, CVS, Walgreens, Whole Foods, LA Fitness, restaurants and bars all within walking distance. It only takes me an additional 15 minutes to get Aleck to school, so a 20 minute commute in total. The bedrooms are huge, I have plenty of room for my office in mine and Aleck has room for a desk in his bedroom as well. There are 7 closets, three huge closets including a walk-in closet in my bedroom, an absolute dream come true for this clothes hoarder who loves her wardrobe. Cute kitchen, large living room, dining space, and two bathrooms finish off this gem, Aleck’s has a walk-in shower. It doesn’t even have windows up here, it has sliding doors instead which open up onto two large private balconies that overlook not only Lake Michigan but Lake Shore Drive and the entire city of Chicago, it’s an absolute dream come true. In the mornings we wake up and watch the sunrise over Lake Michigan, in the evenings we sit on the balcony and watch the sunset over the city. I honestly didn’t think I was really moving here until the moving trucks had finished emptying themselves of all my favorite things. I went to sleep that night exhausted but with the biggest smile on my face ever and the most gratitude I’ve ever had for anything in my life in my hear. This is the second best thing I’ve ever done for myself (PM me if you want to guess the first best this). I still can’t believe this is real, I kinda can’t believe I did it and how much easier everything is for Aleck and I. We just spent 4 days here, he was home sick from school, and we loved every moment of being here. I did it! I moved us, on up, to the east side, to a deluxe apartment in the sky! (cue music 😉
