"better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self." -- cyril connolly

this past week marks the one year anniversary of our time in st. louis.
one year ago, we rolled into town, 30 minutes before the housing office closed, and got our keys. we walked up to our apartment. tayte laid on the floor (it was very open), and i realized how homesick i was. then we went down to our huge, completely full moving truck and started moving boxes, and i realized how sick sick i was. (okay, i wasn't that sick--just dizzy. but i was worried that i would pass out) thankfully tayte had met a guy during interviews that offered to help us move in, so he and tayte moved the rest of our stuff upstairs (why do we have so much stuff??). after it was all upstairs, tayte drove to the ghetto to get wendys, and i fell asleep on the carpet. when he came back, we dried the sweat off our leather couches, ate dinner, then went to sleep.

and here we are, one year later. i mean, it definitely feels like we've been here longer, but we've been through a lot. we've tried all the "typical st. louis things." we've travelled. we got a cat. we bought a house. we've mopped up the water that leaks into our basement when there are freak rainstorms. we bought a rug. we've had house guests. we've done yard work. and we went to ikea.

we've really enjoyed living in st. louis. to be honest, there are times when i'm a little afraid because of stuff that goes on around us. and sometimes i really hate living so far away from family because we miss out on a lot of things. and these summers are literally the worst. but at the end of the day, we have each other, and i know we're supposed to be here.

and that's all that matters.