My First Apartment

I was just thinking about how much God has blessed my life that I couldn't help of thinking how far I have come. Not because of me but because of God. Without him, my life was so empty before and no matter how much I tried to fill my life with my own rules, I was still lonely deep inside....
I lived there almost 10 years ago.

The other day I was driving and I went down an old street just to see what my first apartment looked like. It's so weird doing that too. It reminds me of how hard I worked to live there. First off, I worked at JCPenney only making $5.75 an hour. My one bedroom apartment cost me around $275 a month. Well, for one, just one of my paychecks was almost exactly that amount so I had to live off my other paycheck. I would pay all my bills and buy about $30 worth of groceries. Since I didn't have a car I would walk home from the grocery store with my back pack as full as I could get it and then bags all up and down my arms. It would be so painful on my back that I would have to stop every 10 steps and rest. I remember only allowing myself $1 a day for lunch at work and that was to buy a Cup O' Noodle from the machine. I had a bird in my apartment above my fridge that I loved. I had an old TV and since I had hardly any visitors I would just kick off my shoes after my bus ride home, make myself dinner, and then fall asleep on the couch watching Fresh Prince of Bell Air. You have to know though that I was so proud of how I was able to manage and care for myself on such a low income. Although it was tough at times, I felt excited that I was making it work and knew it was a good lesson for me. I lived there when I first got to really know Charles. He came by on my birthday once and gave me a CD. I was very grateful for this because I got pretty lonely at times living in that place. He didn't come into my apartment but we spent a few times talking outside on the patio. When I told him that I didn't have a stereo to play the CD's on, he went home and brought back his to give me. I couldn't believe he would do something so generous and from then on I started to pay more attention into getting to know him. I gave my heart back to Christ towards the latter end of me living there and I remember praying on my floor asking God to show me if this was the man for me. I was so very confused. I remember, like a vision, seeing clouds part as if the skies became blue again after so much darkness. Charles was pressed upon my heart. Although I was very scared to start into another relationship, I felt as if I just found my best friend for life. I'll never regret the day I met him.