I am very clearly made for living in a house.
More than fifteen years of living in apartments have in no way made me better at ignoring sounds from neighbors. I am skilled at picking up something to listen to just as I am going to sleep, then lie awake a while in low-intensity frustration wondering when the sound is going to end, or if it is going to come back all of a sudden.
I do not, however, feel excited about taking care of a house. Escpecially not the outside and any associated garden. Gardens, and houses, deserve to be done and cared for right. That value has been so deeply and naturally instilled in me that I did not even realize it until I started taking walks around Gothenburg and found myself clearly noticing ran-down facades and overgrown gardens, and thinking whoever owned the house should sell to someone who wants to have a garden. This only reinforced my comfort in apartment living, because I am not interested in maintaining a garden up to my own standards.
I am edging closer though. Now I can browse Hemnet and quite happily imagine myself living in small houses out in the countryside just as I can central apartments. And I know the garden-turn can come very quickly and naturally. A couple I know recently got themselves an old cottage with a fantastic garden. Right up until they started talking about getting a cottage I considered them apartment people and had not seen any tendency toward anything else. Now, they are talking gardening, remodeling plans, renovations, tree care and paint types as if that had always been their thing. And it feels completely natural, as if this mindset simply surfaced fully formed.
So I will not at all be surprised if I suddenly find myself tending a garden and replacing floorboards inbetween coding and podcasting. The only certain thing time-wise is that it has not happened yet.