Living in a Tree House

Yesterday I ran into a friend on my driveway. She was there talking to one of the owners of the condo units in my building for possibly renting it. She told me about what she liked and didn’t like about the unit. The unit is in the back of the building, so it’s much quieter than our front unit, which faces the street, which is one of the pros. Because it’s in the back where the building next door is facing the unit, which is one of the cons. For the comparing purpose, I invited her into our unit upstairs. When she walked in, she was awe-struck by the “view” out the living room. Although we live on a busy street, we have this huge ash tree in front of our balcony on the side walk. Then we have a couple of tall eucalyptus bushes on the front of the building. As I sit in my favorite chair in the living room, all I see is the trees.

So my friend helped me realize I am fortunate to live in the city where I can get anywhere easily on foot while I am living amongst the trees like a tree house living! I know this may sound silly, but as I get antsy about living in this hustle and bustle it’s helpful for me to get this perspective. Perhaps I can call this my “pied-a-terre” while calling my mountain house my home one day.

It comes back to finding all the things in our life to be grateful for. I do often list these trees in front of my living room on my gratitude list. After all, it’s not so bad to live in a city with all the sound of life, which I often complain about, as long as I can look at these trees from my window — being mindful of aversions I have for the city noise and longing for the quiet. No good or bad…