Wednesday, July 23, 2003
City v. Suburb Part 1
Today we went out to Long Island to visit my friend, Margie. She has two kids about the same age as my kids and a house full of toys. It should have been a perfect day, but Ian's fingers got squashed in the bathroom door after breakfast, and then there have been tears all day.
After working our way through the Long Island highway/parking lot, we drove up their new driveway and my kids pulled out every toy from every shelf. Margie and I did our best to ignore them and talk with each other.
One of things we discussed was moving to the suburbs. We are almost certainly going to move this year. The kids need good schools and a backyard. We've put it off as long as we can, but we are almost the last ones left in the neighborhood. Two years ago, the neighborhood was full of like-minded people w/kids. The playground was an amazing social scene. Sometimes one of the parents would bring beer. But they are gone. It's very hard to raise kids in the city.
So we are going to join the exedus to the suburbs. It will mean a lot of convienences, like a washing machine, but it also looks so boring. Nobody walks about in Long Island, just the air conditioning repair man who showed up to Margie's as we left. There is always someone to talk to around here. No playdates have to be arranged, just walk outside. Yes, a lot of our friends have left, but the city is still packed with 8 million other people who are outside roaming about. There's Mr. Ahn, the Korean vegetable guy, who throws Jonah up in the air when we come in to buy bananas. There are the Dominican guys who work at the supermarket across the street. "Rubio, Rubio" they call out to Jonah. There are cookies to be scored at the kosher bakery and iguanas to pet at the vet. Jokes to be exchanged with Tony the Super and Big Tony. And that's all 50 feet from the front door.
Life in the suburbs will be easier, but it will also be less interesting.
Today we went out to Long Island to visit my friend, Margie. She has two kids about the same age as my kids and a house full of toys. It should have been a perfect day, but Ian's fingers got squashed in the bathroom door after breakfast, and then there have been tears all day.
After working our way through the Long Island highway/parking lot, we drove up their new driveway and my kids pulled out every toy from every shelf. Margie and I did our best to ignore them and talk with each other.
One of things we discussed was moving to the suburbs. We are almost certainly going to move this year. The kids need good schools and a backyard. We've put it off as long as we can, but we are almost the last ones left in the neighborhood. Two years ago, the neighborhood was full of like-minded people w/kids. The playground was an amazing social scene. Sometimes one of the parents would bring beer. But they are gone. It's very hard to raise kids in the city.
So we are going to join the exedus to the suburbs. It will mean a lot of convienences, like a washing machine, but it also looks so boring. Nobody walks about in Long Island, just the air conditioning repair man who showed up to Margie's as we left. There is always someone to talk to around here. No playdates have to be arranged, just walk outside. Yes, a lot of our friends have left, but the city is still packed with 8 million other people who are outside roaming about. There's Mr. Ahn, the Korean vegetable guy, who throws Jonah up in the air when we come in to buy bananas. There are the Dominican guys who work at the supermarket across the street. "Rubio, Rubio" they call out to Jonah. There are cookies to be scored at the kosher bakery and iguanas to pet at the vet. Jokes to be exchanged with Tony the Super and Big Tony. And that's all 50 feet from the front door.
Life in the suburbs will be easier, but it will also be less interesting.
