I broke my lease

Never Done: I broke my lease

Josh and I told our landlords we have to break our lease. I've done a lot of things with leases (ie., negotiated short leases when I knew I couldn't commit to long ones, and gotten sublettors even when I wasn't supposed to) but I've never broken a lease. I was nervous -- really nervous -- because of all ironies, I love this apartment, and my landlords, and I finally, finally feel like I have a home in Brooklyn, and I didn't want my landlords to think otherwise. The problem is that in order to move to the next phase of adoption (the home study) we need to have a place with a private room for the child. And nobody can walk through anyone's private space to get to essential space like the kitchen or bathroom.

So we went upstairs, and I took a deep breath, and I told them what's going on. And they were incredibly sweet about it. They both got teary eyed when we told them what we are doing, and they told us we are brave and there's a place for us in heaven, and Melissa told us that twenty years ago she used to be a foster mother for babies who were in between their birth mothers and adoptive mothers -- she would have them for about 3 weeks. Larry said that he can't think of a better reason to break a lease, and that he'll be sad to see us go.

It was an transformational moment. What I feared might be confrontational and adversarial turned into a conversation that might actually draw us closer together, thanks I think to our honesty, and to their humanity.

Now we need to find tenants to live in this wonderful apartment. Does anyone need a one bedroom floor-through in the south slope, 1/2 block from the park? Basement access with laundry and storage, and a private entrance with beautiful built-ins. Another small room with shelves that leads out to the back yard. Pets welcome.

Oh, and the landlords are very cool.