I thought I would take this post to tell you a little bit about why I love where I have lived for the past year. When we moved into the River House at Pentagon City, I was not a city girl. At this point, I have learned to see the appeal of living in a city. I never thought I'd be wistful about leaving my 17 story apartment building, but this place has made me nostalgic about city life. You see, there are many perks to being a stay at home mom with a small baby living where I do. You never have to be lonely. If I want to see and hear other adult humans, I can walk out my door, go down the elevator, and instantly run into the cleaning staff or the front desk attendant. They will coochy coo Seth and ask me how he's doing. There is one janitor who says, "Hey, Little Man!" every time he sees us, and that is often at least once a day. Then if the weather if good, I can walk out my front door and see the view above. There is a park right out my front door, and on that circular path, there are often other moms with strollers and elderly people walking their dogs during the middle of the day. If it's after work, there are even more people out. And in a city, nobody expects to have much privacy. We all nod and smile, say hi, and sometimes, indulge in a bit of conversation. We know we'll see each other in the elevator, in the lobby, getting mail, at the restaurants acrosst the street, etc. I spend so much time outside now that the weather is good, especially now that Seth is kinda fussy before bed in the evenings. David and I walk the cute little neighborhood behind our building about every other night. When David wasn't home until late at night for a couple of weeks, Seth and I would walk over to the baseball field after dinner in the evening, and we would watch people play and talk to the moms and dads with strollers that were watching their spouses play. Then we would go inside for bed, tossing a ball for the same Golden Retriever each night as we passed him, and telling his owner that we were heading in for night night time. If we got tired of the park, we could cross the street and find ourselves here...
There is a large mall right across the street from my building. It starts with an outdoor court surrounded on all sides with shops and restaurants, and back behind that is a 3-story indoor shopping mall. I can walk to Harris Teeter in less than a block, and there is an Eckerds literally across the crosswalk from my building. On summer evenings, there are concerts in this courtyard, and the kids play in the grassy areas.
Mornings are lovely in this courtyard, too. There are plenty of people with their Starbucks and a newspaper sitting at the little tables. One morning, I got up, fed Seth, threw on some clothes, ran a brush through my hair, and walked across the street to Eckerds to pick up a prescription. As we crossed the street, another mommy with a little boy in a stroller crossed behind us, calling out a cheerful hello. We smiled at each other as we shopped, and after Seth and I were done there, we walked over to the courtyard for a minute. She was there with her son, and we struck up a conversation. She lived in another building in my complex. We talked for about half an hour, and she gave me her name and phone number and info on a playgroup of moms who all live in our complex. We talked about how much we enjoy being stay at home moms in Pentagon City because of mornings like this. I'm really going to miss the easy access to so many people and things where I live now. There is nothing like this in the suburbs. I will have a nice backyard and a great porch in my new house, and I'm thankful for those things, but at this point, I kind of prefer sharing my "yard" with many other people. I don't yearn for suburban privacy like I thought I would. I will miss Pentagon City more than I ever thought possible. It has been a wonderful place to live and love and have our baby boy, and I will say a tearful goodbye to it when we roll out of here on Sunday afternoon.
I thought I would take this post to tell you a little bit about why I love where I have lived for the past year. When we moved into the River House at Pentagon City, I was not a city girl. At this point, I have learned to see the appeal of living in a city. I never thought I'd be wistful about leaving my 17 story apartment building, but this place has made me nostalgic about city life. You see, there are many perks to being a stay at home mom with a small baby living where I do. You never have to be lonely. If I want to see and hear other adult humans, I can walk out my door, go down the elevator, and instantly run into the cleaning staff or the front desk attendant. They will coochy coo Seth and ask me how he's doing. There is one janitor who says, "Hey, Little Man!" every time he sees us, and that is often at least once a day. Then if the weather if good, I can walk out my front door and see the view above. There is a park right out my front door, and on that circular path, there are often other moms with strollers and elderly people walking their dogs during the middle of the day. If it's after work, there are even more people out. And in a city, nobody expects to have much privacy. We all nod and smile, say hi, and sometimes, indulge in a bit of conversation. We know we'll see each other in the elevator, in the lobby, getting mail, at the restaurants acrosst the street, etc. I spend so much time outside now that the weather is good, especially now that Seth is kinda fussy before bed in the evenings. David and I walk the cute little neighborhood behind our building about every other night. When David wasn't home until late at night for a couple of weeks, Seth and I would walk over to the baseball field after dinner in the evening, and we would watch people play and talk to the moms and dads with strollers that were watching their spouses play. Then we would go inside for bed, tossing a ball for the same Golden Retriever each night as we passed him, and telling his owner that we were heading in for night night time. If we got tired of the park, we could cross the street and find ourselves here...
There is a large mall right across the street from my building. It starts with an outdoor court surrounded on all sides with shops and restaurants, and back behind that is a 3-story indoor shopping mall. I can walk to Harris Teeter in less than a block, and there is an Eckerds literally across the crosswalk from my building. On summer evenings, there are concerts in this courtyard, and the kids play in the grassy areas.
Mornings are lovely in this courtyard, too. There are plenty of people with their Starbucks and a newspaper sitting at the little tables. One morning, I got up, fed Seth, threw on some clothes, ran a brush through my hair, and walked across the street to Eckerds to pick up a prescription. As we crossed the street, another mommy with a little boy in a stroller crossed behind us, calling out a cheerful hello. We smiled at each other as we shopped, and after Seth and I were done there, we walked over to the courtyard for a minute. She was there with her son, and we struck up a conversation. She lived in another building in my complex. We talked for about half an hour, and she gave me her name and phone number and info on a playgroup of moms who all live in our complex. We talked about how much we enjoy being stay at home moms in Pentagon City because of mornings like this. I'm really going to miss the easy access to so many people and things where I live now. There is nothing like this in the suburbs. I will have a nice backyard and a great porch in my new house, and I'm thankful for those things, but at this point, I kind of prefer sharing my "yard" with many other people. I don't yearn for suburban privacy like I thought I would. I will miss Pentagon City more than I ever thought possible. It has been a wonderful place to live and love and have our baby boy, and I will say a tearful goodbye to it when we roll out of here on Sunday afternoon.
1 comment:
I can kinda say I understand! It was so hard for me to adjust from NYC to NC, and I still miss NY in lots of ways!
Just wanted to say that Jon and I will be out of town from Wednesday evening (the 25th) until Sunday afternoonish (the 29th). My parents have invited us along on a little mini-vacation with them to Savannah. Let me know if y'all need anything on Monday & Tuesday when you get into town, but I'm guessing that at least for those first couple of days, you won't want too many people underfoot. We'll be around Sunday night when you initially get in, also, just in case you need friendly faces. :) Just putting it out there!! Take care.
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