A Corner of My Own

I have never had a room my own. Well, that is not exactly true but for most of my life I have shared a bedroom with someone.

It started with my older brother in the two bedroom homes we lived in as we moved around in our early lives as Army brats. When I was six years old we moved from Okinawa to Fayetteville, North Carolina. My mom was pregnant with my baby sister. My parents bought a three bedroom house. I had my own room for about three months and then Traci moved in. I actually loved sharing a room with my baby sister.

I then went off to college where I shared dorm rooms with roommates. I moved to New York City and as many recent college grads do, found an apartment with roommates and once again, shared a room. I bopped from place to place and always shared either a bedroom or in one case, I set up my bed in the shared living room of a lovely Sutton Place sublet.

Then I moved to the apartment building where I met my husband. I had my own room in that fourth floor walkup but a few months in I started dating my neighbor. He lived on the first floor. His was the default location mostly because of the stairs! After some time, my room became a closet and was basically vacant. It made sense for us to find our own place. Our first apartment was an alcove studio on East 19th Street. Then we found a one bedroom right around the corner on Irving Place. We got married while living there. Then I became pregnant with our first baby.The Irving Place sublet wexpired so we did what so many new parents in New York City do — we moved to the suburbs. We lasted ten months — I did not move to New York City to live in Westchester County. We moved to a two bedroom in Stuyvesant Town. We eventually had three children. When the third was born Rob and moved into the smaller bedroom and creatively set the kids up so they had some sense of their own space.

All along the way I have made shared corners, desks and dining tables work as office space. For a long time I used the family desktop computer in the the corner of our living room. My work often got interrupted by someone needing to log on to print something, or the TV was a distraction or dinner was ready.

Frequently I would lament the lack of A Room My Own.

Recently we became a household of three — the two older children have moved into their own apartments. Rob and I moved back into the larger bedroom and my request was to set up an office in our room.

While I do not have a room of my own,I do have a corner and it has a view! As I sit here I feel a sweet breeze. I hear the faint sounds of sirens and car horns and the occasional bark of a dog and cry of a toddler. I watch the day phase into evening. And I do not have to relocate or be quiet or move my stuff! I have a Corner of My Own!

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