The SIMS IRL

‘A Simple Home For Two’-S/o Carrie Bradshaw

We were only together 6 months before moving in with one another. Although this timeline may seem premature for some readers, it is common in the Lesbian community. There is an inside community joke that goes, ‘What does a Lesbian bring to the third date?’ And the answer is ‘A UHaul.’ And the accuracy of this joke is more humorous than the actual punchline lol.

When we initially began living together, Simone moved with me to the 1 bedroom apartment I was living in at the time. By this point, we were spending at least 5 nights weekly together, and it made sense financially to cohabit and consolidate funds. 

We did not however move into our first home until our 1 year dating Anniversary. Notably, when we moved into our first home, we were not engaged, yet.

Our first home was a new construction, 2 story Townhome style condo, in Prince George’s County, MD. As I am writing this, we still live here but are making plans to move into DC, very soon. If you know anything about new construction properties, the building takes around 6-9 months in advance to move in, so we were planning to move into our first home right around the time Simone officially ended her apartment lease and moved with me.

The most beautiful aspect about the new construction home building journey is that you get to pick all of the features (to what capacity, is dependant on the vendor), flooring and appliances in a studio design session approx 3-4 months prior to moving in. In hindsight, this experience was my first time realizing that my Wife and I have very different skill sets and strengths, and her unique interior design skills (which I have none of lol) and patience (which I have very little of ) came in handy. During the time our first home was being built, Simone was still working in a Clinical Research position but since then, she has started a Master’s Degree program in Interior Design, has been excelling the entire duration of the program, and is graduating May 2024. 

During the Design studio session, you select everything from countertops, cabinets, flooring, light fixtures, faucet styles, door handles, carpets, baseboards, etc. Within 30 minutes of arriving and discussing with the designer the various aspects of the home, we would be selecting within a 3-4 hour time frame, I was overwhelmed. 

Unbeknownst to me at the time, this was and is my wife’s (then gf) area of expertise, and she ended up selecting 85% of the selection because again, I was overwhelmed with the options and mentally tapped out.

Although this experience was very overwhelming, it was an opportunity where Simone was able to play up her insight and strengths, reaffirming the many ways she would be adding immense value to my life.

For sentimental reasons, we look back, on the entire process fondly because we will always be able to say we hand-picked everything in our first home, and even if we never have the opportunity to do it again, everything inside of it will always be a reflection of us.