A benefit to living in the ‘burbs

I always knew I’d be a suburban kind of girl. For as much as I sigh when I look at the pretty brick buildings on Beacon Hill, and imagine the fabulously urban lifestyle my alter ego would live, it’s just not me. I don’t actually like how crowded things are, I don’t like hearing my neighbors through the walls, and I like to be able to park my car within a mile of my residence. But there are downsides to having moved further from the city. Not being so close to culture, my fellow “liberal elites,” and good ethnic restaurants is a bummer.

But I can drive downtown and get good sushi, Ethiopian, or Greek food. And living out here means I have a four-bedroom house, and I only share walls with my husband, dog, and kids. Even better, said four-bedroom house sits (strangely positioned) on a quarter-acre lot, which is definitely larger than the average suburban Boston lot. When we were house-hunting, three years ago, much of what we saw listed lot size as “.05 acres.” Bummer. But not us, we lucked out with our whopping “.25 acres.” And you know what’s cool about that?

Our new swingset arrived.

It was a gift/hand-me-down from my aunt, as my cousins have gotten too old for it. I actually found a company that specializes in assembling, moving, and inspecting swingsets. They drove to my aunt’s house, took it apart and packed it in a pickup truck, drove to my house, and set it up in less than an hour.

I was so psyched to try it out (and wanted to do so before the promised late-afternoon rain showers) that I carried both kids outside without bothering to put pants on them. Ah, whatever, it was nice out.

I think they had a good time.  Oh, the fun we’ll have this summer

Try putting that in Beacon Hill…