Winter Blues

I barely rode my bike this winter. A perfect winter for riding and I let my shiny new bike collect dust in the bike room while I waited for longer days and a shorter commute. That bummed me out.

The news got me down. The attacks on teacher and public education (and my mom’s livelihood) got me down. The screeching from religious fundamentalists who have taken over the Republican party, the attack on women’s rights in the country, the push for religion to take over policy. That got me down.

Non-stop fighting in the middle east. A war brewing between Iran and Israel – one mainstream media is so certain of, they are renting out roofs with a view in Tel Aviv. Massacres in Syria, continued unrest in Egypt. Rebels, revolutionaries, monarchs, armies, militias. It got me down.

A non-existant dating life. A barely surviving social life. Many nights on the couch with my cats, my computers and the complete Sex and the City series DVD set. I became a caricature of a single woman.

But the days are longer and I’m shaking off the winter blues with big changes to my life.

I’m moving house.

After seven years in my one bedroom condo in Edgewater, I’m moving to a 2 story loft in Greektown. Moving 10 miles south of my current home and 9 miles closer to work. If I don’t ride everyday, I won’t have an excuse. For 1.3 miles, I can ride in any outfit under the sun.

I’m packing boxes and having final meals at local restaurants. Saying goodbye to the only property I’ve ever owned, my only Jewish home. A condo that I can navigate in the dark. Giving up my one block walk to the walk, one block to my synagogue for saganaki and the blue line.

I don’t think it will make me less of a caricature of a single woman, but I’ll have more space for entertaining, a deck for the first time in 7 years and I’ll gain back two hours of my day that used to be spend commuting.