My husband dreamed of city living — I didn't. To compromise, we tried living in a high-rise condo downtown for one year.

We rented a high-rise condo for a year to try downtown living. We loved it so much that we're buying the place and leaving the suburbs.

Stacy Brooks

I thought I would hate living in a high-rise apartment. I grew up in the woods of northern Minnesota, watching deer and the occasional bear wander through the backyard. I've spent my adult life in suburban townhomes near large park reserves, a compromise between rural landscapes and the job opportunities of the Minneapolis metro area.However, my husband of 15-plus years has long fantasized about urban living and skyline views. Whenever we drove by downtown apartment buildings, he gazed wistfully at the units on the upper floors. When we were planning a trip to Tokyo, he pored through online reviews to find a room with the best panoramic skyline view. At home, he watched YouTube videos of cityscapes and scrolled through real estate listings for urban condos.A successful marriage is all about compromise, so by the time we hit our late 30s, I offered to give urban living a try for one year, on a part-time basis. Since we don't have kids, it was feasible to split our time between our suburban townhome in the northwest metro and a 19th-floor condo we rented in downtown Minneapolis.As we lugged our furniture up the freight elevator on move-in day, my husband was thrilled about this exciting adventure. I was skeptical.