There is one of those great U-shaped apartment complexes on my way to Fred Meyer. This particular one has three separate structures around a grassy green space. I’ve long admired it. (And, if truth be told, fantasized about buying the whole thing, renovating one of the structures into a single family house, renting out the other structures and having an amazing garden in the green space. You know, with all my spare money. And time.)
At any rate, the entire time I’ve lived in the Kenton neighborhood, the same couple has rented this apartment. I walked by today and they were gone! The apartment is empty.
I never met this couple, but I enjoyed seeing the poster they hung on the wall of some country star. I always thought it was Toby Keith, but I can’t be sure. And they had one of those old-timey photos you get taken at the fair. It was framed. I liked the way they shifted their furniture around every December, to accommodate their Christmas Tree. I maybe liked this couple so much because they always had their blinds open so I could observe these things as I walked back and forth running my errands. 
I hope their move was a good one, and they are happy in their new place.
I find that it’s very comforting to have familiar things along one’s walking routes and it’s always a bit sad when they change. Hopefully that couple moved on to bigger and better things!
Hopefully indeed! However, the state of rental housing in Portland has me worried they got pushed out.
In walking home from the train today, I discovered who lives in the unit now. It turns out she was on my train and walked in front of me. When she peeled off and headed to the door, I almost said, “Hey! You’re the new tenant! Are you going to leave you blinds open so I can look in when I walk by?”
But I did not say these things. And this is a good thing.