Oh 9A

I've talked a lot about 9A over the years and shared lots of pictures.  It was my home for 3.5 years but it's been a part of my story from my first week in NYC.  

My first week in the city my roommate who I was sub-letting from for a couple months invited me to go with her to a housewarming party. I knew no one in the city and definitely didn't know the people who were hosting the house-warming. Well that housewarming ended up being 4 girls who had just moved into 9A.  The moment I walked into that apt I fell in love with it and decided in my head that one day I wanted to live there!  I also hit it off with a couple of the girls who lived there and discovered that one of them was from the same place that I was.  After that night I didn't really keep up with the girls or go back to 9A for a couple years.  I can't remember how the re-connection happened but at some point I started hanging out with 2 of the roommates Lindsay Ann and Hannah.  Our friendship led me to joining a bible study they hosted at their apt (which to this day is still called "the 9A bible study) and becoming a part of their friend group.  It was during this season that a roommate was moving out and it was the perfect time for me to think about making a move from my Columbus Ave apt.  So March of 2011 I became a resident of 9A!  

I LOVED this apt.  It was an unusually large apt for Manhattan, in the perfect location, and was beautiful.  You can see pictures here (although we have re-decorated since these pictures were taken) Because of my roommate Hannah the apt was actually on HGTV, the Nate Berkus show, and Tim Out magazine.  I called my tiny little bedroom my little place of refuge. It was tiny, but it was the only place in the city that I could call mine!

I experienced many roommates come and go out of 9A, but some of them have become my closest friends.  You can read a post here that I wrote when LA moved out.  It's a home that I will always treasure and will always be a part of my story.  I have good memories and bad memories from my years there.  I have filled my living room with women studying God's word together, many dinner parties, and nights of watching the Bachelor with 9A bible study girls. I've had great moments of laughter moments of sorrow.  It was the apt that I've made some best friends and also the apt that a boyfriend and I sat across from each other and called it quits.  With the laughter there were moments of tears and despair, but one thing I came to treasure in a crazy city like NYC is a place you can call home. It was the place that welcomed me at the end of every day.  

I snapped this picture of our housekeeper Imelda the last day she came to clean before I moved.  Imelda was a gift to our apt and to me as she "took care of us" in so many ways.  She lovess 9A and takes great care in helping us keep it clean and organized! 

In addition to loving my apt, I LOVED my neighborhood.  I lived right on the corner of Broadway in the UWS of Manhattan. I felt like I was in the center of everything and loved leaving my building each morning and walking down Broadway.  It really was the perfect location for my life those years!

I miss 9A today.  I miss the familiarity of my home in NYC and the surroundings that I passed everyday.  I miss the people I lived with and the people who came to my apt.  I miss so much and my apt in Birmingham still does not feel like home to me.  I know at some point it will and at some point 9A will be somewhat of a distant memory, but for today it's still so close to my heart and somewhat raw that I don't live there.  It's funny how your home can become so dear to you.  

Thank you 9A for the a beautiful place to call home, friendships that will last a lifetime, and memories that I will always treasure.  You were the perfect Manhattan home for me!