Life in the Father Cave—a basement studio apartment with kids
I didn’t plan on moving into a studio basement apartment with my four and six year old. In fact when my ex-wife and I discussed our separation arrangements, it was agreed I’d be given time to find a house, because in my own words, “I didn’t want to try and make a shitty apartment feel like home.”
The problem was that house rentals in the area were over $2000 and buying another house wasn’t an option with finances unsettled.
One evening while reading a book to my kids in our truck camper, I realized if we felt at home in a space the size of a closet then surely I could make any place feel like home as long as we were together. With the Deschutes River gurgling just steps away, I was reminded all over again to go with the flow. Not only would I look for an apartment, but I’d completely downsize.
Love is what makes a home — a home.
So I seized the opportunity at a private basement studio. With a business upstairs we’d have evenings and weekends to ourselves to be as loud as we want. In between feelings of anger, depression, devastation, and denial: I…
