Country Mouse, City Mouse, Suburban Mouse?

Today we did what should be the last of the paperwork for our new lease. Our new apartment isn’t far from our old one – actually just across the driveway – but it is smaller. As we’ve gone from 1800 to 1300 and next to 1200 square feet of living space and from 2 to 3 to 4 people, the change has made me think about how different this sort of life is to the one I had when I was growing up. City life means less space, but has meant more together time. We may not all eat meals at the same time, but there’s also no eating and retreating to your bedroom immediately afterward. Kid H can’t just go outside and play by herself, so we all go to the beach or playground together. Our apartment is almost always cluttered, with toys, projects, files, and dishes, but cleaning it up only takes a couple of hours so it’s not a big deal.

Living in Boston has exposed Kid H to some things earlier than I would have preferred, but has given her other opportunities that were almost only special occasion events for me when I was growing up. Frequent moves have forced all of us to be a little more adaptable, a little more flexible, and have seemed to strengthen our bonds as a family. It’s also changed our perspective on what we own. A move has a way of making that indispensible item into just one more round trip on the stairs. We are also finding that while the quantity of things we own decreases, we are becoming more and more particular about what it is that we hang on to.

Other discoveries:
• Public schools aren’t necessarily as good, but having Italian classes in K1 is great
• Cost of housing is high, but there are lots of jobs and housing around should you need it
• Groceries are expensive and grocery stores are kind of crazy, but Peapod delivers and there’s Haymarket on Saturdays
• Friends are everywhere, but everyone seems busy
• Car insurance is ridiculous, but if you don’t use it often, operating costs are very low
• Park Street Church – probably the best or second-best church we’ve attended

I occasionally wonder about living in the suburbs. It seems to be what lots of city mice with kids eventually do. However, although the space would be nice, I think the suburbs would be the death of me. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for us.