Making Amends

Joe read my last post and said it was "pretty harsh on the old 'hood." That wasn't my intention at all, so now I feel like I have to clarify: I love our old 'hood. When I said it was colorful, I didn't mean that as a euphemism for scary. I meant that it was diverse in the best sense of the word with a nice sprinkle of eccentric, from the super-fit people at the gym with tattoos over 90% of their bodies to urban hipsters at the restaurants with designer jeans tucked into leather boots, and vagabond men and ladies walking parrots.

The people, shops and restaurants made it a great place to live, and while I didn't make up any of the incidents in the last post, I always felt safe. Which is why I was a little surprised at Joe's reaction to my post, because he's the one who admits he was never quite at ease, as evidenced by the not one but two "safety bats" we kept in our bedroom. By the time we moved I'd completely forgotten they were there, and was surprised when the kid with the moving company who found them covered in dust and cobwebs under our bed and dresser brought them out to the moving van with a smile and said, "Two safety bats, huh? We have one, too."

Before I used to wonder at the young 20-somethings who had the flexibility to go to the gym or sit in a coffee shop in the middle of a Tuesday morning (never mind that I was one of them), and now I wonder about the young 30-somethings who have the flexibility to wait at the bus stop at 7:55am with their kids and meet them at 3:30pm when they get off.  And as I make the transition from coffee shop to bus stop, it's nice to know that since we'd already made the choice to move in an effort to find affordable space, we landed in a neighborhood where other parents do the same. We are no longer in walking distance of a bar with microbrews on tap, but our neighbors recently gave us their gently used exersaucer and crawling tunnel for free. The new 'hood suits our new lifestyle, and that was all I meant.

For the record, though, Joe has stashed zero safety bats in our new bedroom. That has to be saying something.