We were newlyweds living in a fairly cruddy lower flat in Royal Oak, Michigan, hanging out with our friends and trying to figure out how to be the kind of grown-ups we thought we should be despite the fact that he was still in law school and I was writing newsletters and doing the desktop publishing for a rich and ritzy suburban church. We had no money but felt like we should have had plenty, mostly because some of our friends had taken good jobs after college and were starting to get it together.
We painted bunches of grapes on our kitchen walls, and I hosted my first Thanksgiving. I had no shortage of confidence in myself or my ability to do whatever I wanted, and here's proof: I sewed an enormous bridal gown for our friend to wear for Halloween, despite the fact that I hadn't touched a sewing machine since I'd not finished sewing a pair of pants I had been forced to make in 8th grade Home-Ec. But look! I figured it out, and it was pretty great!
He dyed the dress red the next year and went as Joan Crawford, but C and I were gone by then. We'd sold everything we owned and moved to London, where I got pregnant with The Boy, which caused us to decide to move back to Pennsylvania to be near our families, and I think I've only been back to Michigan twice since. But we were very happy there, and I always think of Michigan as one of my favorite states.
2 comments:
Royal Oak is a great area. Kitschy and young and fun.
We loved it there. C went to college at Oakland University, and then I moved in with him while he was at law school at U of D Mercy--the spot we lived on was on Eleven Mile, and while it was a little heavy on the cheap wood paneling, it was great.
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