Monday, July 04, 2005

July 4th Weekend

We just got back from a weekend in Western Kentucky visiting our friends Lori and Jeff. They moved out there about 5 years ago from Indiana and live in a pretty and secluded subdivision with only 14 homes and acreage between the houses. Their home is beautiful--the perfect size for themselves, their three dogs, Nixon, Socks and Emit. In addition, the neighbor's schnauzer Dexter stays there all the time. He almost went home in my suitcase because I couldn't understand why his owner's didn't care that he was constantly over at the house. He even spent the night in the living room Saturday night!!!!

When I wasn't chasing Baby Girl and sticking her in a corner for being fresh, I would sit out on the deck or the sitting area in the front of the house and think about how much I miss my house in New Jersey. Now, my house in New Jersey wasn't even CLOSE to being as nice as their's. Our home here in Ohio is great and we wanted to have sidewalks and neighbors for our kids to play with. But I miss the solitude. We had over an acre of land with no one behind us and privacy fencing on the sides. It was very quiet, despite being under the flight patterns for both Newark and Philadelphia Airports. Oh yeah, and I MISS MY GOD D*@* POOL!!!!! The pool in my subdivision is smaller than the one I had back in NJ, and they expect 170 famillies to enjoy it?! I see kids walk to the pool every day with their floaties around their bellies. There is no way that more than ten of them can fit in the pool at the same time.

At any rate, I am sure I will look back on this in a few years and shake my head when I see my kids going to a neighbors house while I enjoy a different kind of solitude...

3 comments:

c said...

I, on the other hand, cannot WAIT to leave suburbia. Hence "suburban MISFIT".

The minute The Girl graduates from high school the For Sale sign is going in the yard and we're off to Europe (extended vacation, possibly never ending).

How old is she?

Five.

Yeah, I've got a wait ahead of me.

Anonymous said...

I'm still amazed that you found solitude in NJ, when, after a few minutes drive, you were surrounded by the glories of Route 22. How can NJ be so rural and so packed at the same time? Crazy.

Anyway, with 3 kids age 2 and under, I'm finding I desperatly look forward to sitting on the front porch after they're all down for the night. Watching the sun go down to the buzz of the cicadas, I'm able to just be.

Until the volkswagon-sized NY mosquitos start dining on my legs, that is...

Anonymous said...

I miss your house in NJ too!!