Ma Village, Let Me Show You It
Recently, CityMama wrote an ode to her small city, waxing poetic about all of reasons she is so content and happy to be living there. Well, the weather in early April in Chicago doesn't come close to matching the weather she has in the Silicon Valley, but in an effort to get myself through these last chilly days, I thought I'd talk a little bit about all of the reasons that I DO love living where I do, which is the city neighborhood of Roscoe Village. Many of my fellow Chicago Mom Bloggers are in the suburbs, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. Heck, I grew up in the suburbs! But, I love the city lifestyle, and being in Roscoe Village offers the best of all worlds. Here's why:
1. Though I live in the city, I have a backyard, a full, finished basement and a two-car garage. I'm a native New Yorker, so this is amazing to me. Where I grew up, you didn't get that stuff unless you lived in the suburbs (or Queens.).
2. Yes, my backyard is small, but we are just a quick two minute walk from a phenomenal park with a spraypool and a five minute walk from another park with baseball diamonds, a dog park and a playground.
3. My kids are city kids. I love this. As I mentioned, I grew up in the suburbs, always looking up to the "cool city kids." While I won't be letting my six-year-old hop on the bus by herself for quite some time, I'm glad that she will, eventually be confident enough to do that. I remember going into "the city" as a high schooler and how frightened my friends were! We used to have fights about going on the subway. I was happy to do so (because my parents had always taken me). They were all more leery of big city life, and wanted to cab it everywhere. I have a hard time picturing my kids on public transportation by themselves, but when they are old enough, I want them to have the wherewithal to do it! I think city living encourages toughness, independence and confidence.
4. When the weather isn't cruddy (and really, though it seems like the weather sucks here forever, it's only truly sucky for four months out of the year), it is IMPOSSIBLE to walk anywhere without bumping into people you know. It seems cliche to talk about how much of a neighborhood feel my neighborhood has, but it's true!
5. I can walk to almost everything I need. Within walking distance of my house is my hair salong, the kids' hair salon, the dog food store, the doggie daycare, our family dentist, our family doctor, the YMCA, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, my favorite wine and beer store, a ton of great boutiques, the best ice cream in the city, kid-friendly restaurants, an amazing neighborhood pub, a fancy wine bar for romantic nights out, and a great neighborhood school.
What more could you ask for? (Yes, I know. Good weather year round. Keep dreaming.)
When not babbling on and on about how fabulous her neighborhood is, Danielle can be found blogging about food and mom stuff at foodmomiac.com.
Original Chicago Moms Blog Post.
