It Takes a Village....

At the end of this month, it will be 3 years ago that we move into our house. We are in this quiet little pocket of homes in the Baltimore/Washington corridor that actually almost reminds me of Midwest suburbia. There are lots of trees and well kept yards, lots of children running around and riding bikes up and down the street and local stores right around the corner. It's lovely and we've really enjoyed living here. We have strange neighbors....on all sides. The 86 year old man next door takes too much pride in being naked, the nice couple next door to us actually were the ones who sold us our house, the man across the street to the right is some kind of FBI agent. Then there's the "fun house." Brian and I have spent years trying to figure out who actually lives there, and who is visiting. It's not a huge house, but it seems like 20 people live in there. We see people of all ages coming and going all the time and it's really hard to determine who belongs with who. We did recently find out that there are several generations living in that house and six kids ranging in age from college to 3 years old.

While it seems a bit odd to have that many people under one roof, there are many days I find myself looking across the street, envious of what they have going. Lots of kids....lots of parents and grandparents to help raise them. There's something very beautiful about having the whole family under one roof and something that seems very wrong about how far flung most families are today. It is so common, especially in the DC area it seems, to be far away from family. Parents have to fly all the way across the country to see their kids and grand kids.....doesn't make much sense. I know I'm not one to talk since Brian and I are living out here in Baltimore with one set of parents who are a 6 hour car ride away and the other set a 4 hour flight. It makes me sad that we're so far apart and I really do envy those who family close by....maybe not as close by as the house across the street, but you get the point.

It's been wonderful having my parents in town. My dad actually left yesterday but my mom is here until Wednesday. Ben has had a wonderful time with "Grammy and Grampy" and will be VERY sad to see them go. There are so many things that Ben does that I can't describe in writing, tell them over the phone or even show them on Skype...they just have to be here to witness and experience it. It's been wonderful and I'm not looking forward to being jealous of the family across the street again.