We live in the "country". I say that loosely because we can be in downtown Louisville in about 35 minutes. However, we live far enough out that we feel like we live in the country. I would imagine that those who visit us from the "city" do think we live in the country, as they feel as if they are driving out into the middle of nowhere to get to our house. I often go back and forth in my head about whether it would be smarter/more practical to sell our house and move closer to the city.
Today, for instance, I had a minor mishap that made me wish that we lived closer to civilization. I had scheduled an apointment for our dog to be groomed....he is in desperate need of it. I managed to pack up five kids, snacks, the dog and a few other random items that I intended to take care of while we were out and about ( a stop at the library, bank and goodwill). We got loaded into the van and off we went. First stop was the bank to make a deposit. I generally don't mind going to the bank since I can use the drive-thru and not have to drag five kids into the building. So, we got to the bank, made our deposit and then things went wrong. The driver's side window refused to go back up and close! It is 40 degrees outside today and my window was stuck open! I tried everything I could think of to get that darn window to close and nothing worked! I made a quick decision to cancel the dog's appointment and just head home. My babies were cold! Well, since we live out in the country, our drive home was about 15 minutes. I know that doesn't seem like such a long drive, but when you have to drive at 55mph (so other cars don't tailgate you or rear end you) with the windows down on a chilly Fall day it can seem like an eternity. Thank goodness I had put the fleece cover on the infant carrier or Claire would have frozen by the time we made it home. I had no blankets in the car but I did have old towels that I use to wash the dogs (they were freshly laundered). So, my kids all put "dog" towels over the heads to keep warm while I drove us home. I kept thinking that if we lived closer to town I would only have had to drive 5 minutes to get home and at a reasonable speed that wouldn't have turned our car into a moving popsicle. Score one for city living!
I can think of a plethora of reasons as to why living closer to town would be fab:
- we could get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time; currently it takes me 15 minutes just to run to the grocery store, which is actually a 30 minute round trip...figure in the time at the store and a quick jaunt for eggs turns into an hour long errand.
- we could order more for dinner than pizza from Papa Johns; don't get me wrong, I love PJ's pizza but it would be nice once in a while to be able to order from a different pizza place or a different type of restaurant all together.
- setting up playdates for my kids would be easier; I always hesitate to set up playdates for the kids because I always feel bad asking another parent to take so much time out of their day to drop off/pick up their kid(s) at our house.
- our kids could participate in more activities; right now I limit our activities because the drive time tends to make things drag out too late to work for our family.
- we would have more services available to us; currently we can only use certain cell phone/internet/cable provider because of where we live; having a better range of choices would be nice.
Those are just a few of the top reasons that living closer to the city would be a win-win situation. I know there are lots more.
So, there are days when I almost convince myself to call up a realtor, get our house listed and start looking for new digs. However, there are a lot of reasons that I haven't:
- we have a huge yard! Our children can play to their hearts' content and I never have to worry about them being abducted. I'm not saying that only "city" kids get abducted, but the chances that someone is going to be driving into our cul-de-sac out in the middle of nowhere and traipsing onto our property to abduct our kids has got to be pretty slim. Our backyard has about an acre and a half of woods behind it that are pretty much impossible to make your way through (poison ivy, briars, vines, etc...) so someone would have to work awfully hard to nab one of our kids out of the backyard.
- we have a large house; it's much larger than we would be able to afford if we moved. Our family is large and we need lots of room inside and out. Our house gives us that...3700 sqft of living space!
- we spend less money living so far away from things; Yes, having more choices would be nice but more choices would probably mean spending more money. Ordering food in or running out to a restaurant are a lot easier when you have options. When your only options are cooking or PJ's pizza AGAIN, you often choose to cook. Target runs are also less frequent since it takes so much time and planning to make it happen. All in all I think we spend less money on useless things.
- we have room for a large veggie garden; not that I have one now, but I plan to in the future!
- we can sit out on our deck at night and actually hear the crickets and night noises! We can also see the stars in all their crystal clear beauty.
- we have amazing neighbors! Some of my very dearest friends are our neighbors. We have been blessed to move into a nieghborhood full of amazing individuals. My neighbors never fail to bring a smile to my face and they are probably the #1 reason I don't want to move. It's really hard to find neighbors as great as the ones we have.
So, when it's all said and done I always choose to stay put. I figured I would write this post to remind myself of why I love where I live....even on days when I have to drive home in a popsicle.
I've only been to your home once, but it is lovely. You are close enough to neighbors to feel suburb-like without the tiny backyard and more traffic.
ReplyDeleteYikes on the popsicle ride! That would be rough!
ReplyDeleteIt's so funny, but I've had the same back-and-forth conversation in my own head and with Dion, because while we pretty much live in the city, we've often talked about moving out to the country where you are. I list almost exactly the same pros and cons as you've listed here. I still don't know what we'll end up doing in the long run, but for now, we're staying put too. :-)