The Good Life

by Gwen Cooper — October 24, 2007

My theory has always been that when a couple decide to move in together, they should start looking for a new apartment or house immediately. No matter how generous or good-natured a person is, having someone move into a space you've always had to yourself is bound to invoke some territorial issues. It's a good theory, but one that's much harder to put into practice when you live in a place like New York, where finding a decent apartment the two of you are happy with can be a Herculean—not to mention painfully prolonged—prospect. When one of you has possession of a three-bedroom, rent-controlled apartment in a great neighborhood, that's where the two of you are going to live.

Robert's moving in at the end of the month, and so I've been happily cleaning my apartment (down to the dust-bunnies under the bed), emptying closets, and getting rid of some small share of my stuff to make room for Robert's. And, in an attempt to stave off any potential territorial problems, we've decided to re-do the apartment top to bottom, so that it feels like a completely new place that the two of us will be starting off in together.

Again, it's a good theory. But the practice is considerably harder when your decorating ideas differ as widely from each other's as Robert's and mine do. I like bright colors (hey, you can take the girl out of Miami but...) while Robert gravitates more towards neutrals. I like furniture cast in dark wood, while Robert leans toward glass and leather. I like paintings that look like...well...paintings. Robert has a wall-sized diagram of various Marvel Comic superheroes that he's emphatically attached to. (Perhaps it could find a home in one of our bathrooms?)

I once read something—I believe it was quoted from Aaron Sorkin—that said that you know when your life is good, because the things you worry about are the things you used to dream about. And so, even in the midst of my current decor nightmares, I can't help but feel that life is good. I mean, I used to dream of finding someone who I wanted to share my life with. And now I have. Marvel Comics be damned...

Gwen Cooper is the author of Diary of a South Beach Party Girl, recently published by Simon & Schuster. To read all of Gwen Cooper's posts in "The Dating Life," click here.