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They’d lived in the enormous three -flat Victorian in an historic part of town filled from the top of the attic to the bottom of the basement apartment with books, clothing, furniture, doodads, collectibles, stuffed animals, clothing, coats and hats, umbrellas, more and more books, music, pianos, guitars, paintings, framed photographs, fat and content mice, and most of the shoes they had ever worn throughout their adulthood. You could say without hesitation that they had lived well, lived fully, lived to the brim in that old house.

They’d bought it for pennies on the dollar many years ago and now were the proud owners of a treasure house worth many millions of dollars. And as their wealth increased, their years decreased along with their desire to continue living there. They’d had enough. They had so much stuff filling so much dusty space that, for the past several holidays, they’d begged friends and family to give them NO presents because they had everything they could possibly need or want.

Margie desired no more artsy earrings, and Herman had more antique books than he would ever look at for the rest of his lifetime. Marge and Herm had once wallowed in the joys of acquiring, and now were a bit horrified to realize that , in the end, things….the acquisition of things….mattered not at all. Enough was more than enough.

So, Margie’s dream became to move to a clean, airy space, high above ground level, in a building that had a doorman she could tip at Christmastime and a crew of wonderful maintenance folks. She told Herman as much. And soon , because he always paid attention to what his wife of four decades wanted, Herman had soon located a place in a building and a neighborhood across town he thought Margie would like.

When the Manager of the luxury rental building opened the door to apartment 1904 in the West Tower, Margie and Herman both whispered “Oh WOW!’ , because stretched out in front of them was a view of the Bay and surroundings that stunned them. Marge knew. This was the place.

She felt the thrill of the future in her body for the first time in years, and was dismayed to learn that an offer had already been made on the place…could the Manager show them something else, a bit smaller, with not quite that view? Marge and Herman acquiesced, but put no heart in the elevator journey down. When they left the property, that view from the 19th floor haunted her.

In bed, Marge dreamed of that view from those specific windows, and her desire for that apartment made her mouth water. The morning found her at her desk, writing to tell the Manager that if the present application was denied, would she let them know and they would like to make an offer.
Surprisingly, but not really surprised, a few day later, the Manager called and said the offer had failed, and would they like to fill out an application? Marge and Herman spent the next few hours making sure their paperwork was complete, and filled with so much attractive financial information, there was no way they could be denied. And so, 1904 West became theirs.

Marge once again felt the electric thrill of wanting to live longer. And the more old stuff they got rid of, the more her body felt the thrill of the possible. Even before furniture was moved in (including one of the pianos), Marge and Herm would sit on folding chairs and stare out of their magnificent windows. It felt like Heaven.

They kept the space spare, the two bedrooms, the large living room, the small baths, but the one thing Herm bought her that thrilled her even more was a kitchen trash can that automatically opened when she simply asked it to: Open Can! And obligingly, the tall stainless steel beauty opened its large mouth and welcomed all trash. It even opened if you simply walked by it. It seemed to have a simple, dutiful, useful life of its own. A use that obeyed Marge’s hunger for ease. The can seemed to like her, and even opened randomly when she/he/it heard similar command words from another room!

Then, Herman bought her a dispenser that spit out soap when you spoke to it.

So the days passed, with a wondrous fresh perspective, plus lots of graceful seagulls for company,
and the thrill of the new and the modern made Marge smile every single one of the days.