Is 'Appreciating' the Opposite of 'Taking for Granted?'

Things that have made the biggest difference so far:

Dishwasher

So I put the dishes in it and then they end up clean?  Like I don't have to toil over a sink for hours washing dishes, wondering if they are going to be clean enough because I can't get the water hot enough nor scrub them hard enough?  Like I just put them in, push a button, and they COME OUT CLEAN?!  What kind of sorcery IS this?!

I suddenly have way more time.  And the kitchen gets clean a lot faster.

Imagine that.

Free laundry

I always thought I had an aversion to doing laundry.  Like, I really didn't like it and I didn't care if my clothes weren't that clean because it doesn't matter that much anyway, right?

WRONG.

It's because I vehemently despised PAYING $1.50 PER LOAD to do my freaking laundry, to wash things that I can't go without washing (ie: bath towels?) and having to shell out buckets of quarters to do so.

THE FUUUUURRRRRRYYYY.

Now that laundry is included in my rent, and not coin-op, I've done probably a thousand loads already.  And I fucking LOVE doing laundry.

Not kidding.

My mom is probably shitting right now.

Hah!

Windows

There's more than one window.  This is quite a luxury, if you've ever had more than one window.

I can put up more than one kind of curtain because, uh, there is more than one place to hang them.  And most important: the light is simply SPLENDID.  I've got east-facing windows and west-facing windows.  Morning light in the kitchen, afternoon light in the living room.  It's as if the universe was like, "Hey let's construct an apartment building that was made for her, and then mysteriously lead her to it through a series of mishaps and disappointments, and then she'll be deliriously happy. Won't that be fun?"

What a huge difference it makes being able to see the world.

And the universe.

Space

I think having lived in 300-ish square feet for over two and a half years has forever changed who I am.  Anything -- anything -- after living there is going to feel like I'm supremely wealthy, lucky, and blessed.

Will and I were walking around the other day, dumbfounded.

"There's... so much space..."

"I can move..."

"I can, like, walk into another room and suddenly, we're... not in the same room anymore..."

This apartment is only 600 square feet.

And it feels like a castle.