A Condo of One’s Own
PF loves his Somerville condo. He's truly made it his own, from the room where he hosts meditation groups, to a very well-researched espresso machine, to all the artwork he's collected over the years. He initially contacted me wondering if the images I would take could work for insurance purposes: for all the work he's put into his home, he wanted to make sure that he wasn't one natural disaster away from losing it all forever.
The minute I arrived, PF pointed out the small projects he was still working on, from a fence that needed mending to some stairs that needed a fresh coat of paint, but everything looked impeccable. He'd completely redesigned his bedroom to have a wide open closet, a design choice that would expose most of us as secretly at least a little messy: but each shirt was crispy ironed and organized not just vaguely by color, but in full ROYGBIV and attention to shades of intensity. "I was in the military," he explained. "Everything had to be just so!"
As he walked me through his home to point out the items of financial value, it turned out there was a story behind everything, and we started to go over items of sentimental value as well — even the paint on the walls was a custom color he'd mixed himself! "Maybe someday someone will move in with me," he said, "and I'll have to get rid of half of these things to make room. Or we'll get a whole new place together and I'll have to leave this place behind. But I love it here. I'd always want to remember it the way it is now."
