My husband Nick and I just bought a house. After a month of escrow, a month of rent-back from the sellers, and a month of construction, our move date is finally here. 9/24.
According to everything I've ever been told, aside from getting married, winning the lottery, and birthing a first kid, this should be the happiest day of my life. Our first house! We'll do the whole carry-me-over-the-threshold thing, breathe in the scent of fresh paint, and smile at each other giddily.
The catch is the new house is 40 min south of the city (on a good day). We did the responsible thing of buying in a good school district for the future kiddos, but that of course means it's in the 'burbs. As the move date approaches, I find myself increasingly anxious. Leaving the cramped city for wide open suburbia has me feeling claustrophobic. Nick, I whine. What if our friends never visit us? What if I hate all the food here? And where are all the effing street lights at night??
Nick calmly reminds me we spent a fortune for this house, and we can't return it like a pair of shoes. I better find a way to deal with my irrational fears.
That's why I'm doing what all the other kids are doing these days. Blogging.
It will save me from blurring into the oblivion of suburbia. I hope. And I'll get to share with you all the fun things I learn along the way. I already know more about spackling, sandpaper, and power tools than I ever thought I'd have to.
Let's end my first post with a couple of lists.
Things I will miss about living in SF:
- The joy of finding a parking spot.
- Long yellow lights.
- A billion and one amazing restaurants.
- The ability to call up city friends to have dinner in 15 minutes.
- Wonderful Foods boba.
- Shopping at the Castro Safeway (never a dull trip!)
- The pulse of things happening.
Things I will not miss about living in SF:
- The work of finding a parking spot.
- Hearing Nick complain of motion sickness from Google shuttle rides.
- Living in fear of our bikes getting stolen. Oh wait, we don't. Because they were ALREADY stolen.
- Enjoying the sounds of neighbors running around upstairs, passionate lovemaking from next door (at 1am or 6am), amped-up Rock Band, and that damn dog who whines all day long.
- Seeing the creepy hairless cats in Apt #1's window when I leave for work each morning.
- Paying a bucketload of rent for 700 sq ft of cheap-carpeted space.
- Bikers who don't stop at stop signs.
There are many more, but my brain is fried from packing. What are things you like/don't like about city living?
- G
I like that we live in a "walking city" so we don't have to hop into a car everytime we decide to go out. I luv' seeing the fog/clouds roll thru' the intersection I live close to as I drive home uphill @ night...they look like a family scurrying to get home.
ReplyDeleteWhat gets to me @ times (about living in the city) are the sounds of the firetrucks and ambulances esp. since I live close to both a firestation and a hospital. I find frustrating all the construction/roadwork projects that all begin at once as soon as "Summer" rolls in.
~P