the 'burbs

I've been thinking about this alot. The more we settle into Wheaton and find a routine, the more i've thought about what the real differences are between suburban living and city living. Then, with prompting from Robyn, I figured I'd blog it. Just for you, Robyn!!

I can't speak for anyone else's experience, but I feel like I can breathe out here. City living, with kids, wasn't for me. I always thought i'd live in Chicago, or any city for that matter, for life. Raise my kids there, send them to school, the whole bit. It just didn't turn out that way.

When Seth and I moved back to Chicago (from Brooklyn), we fell in love with the West Loop. It reminded us of Brooklyn. It was warehousey. It had a cool vibe. And it was a 15-minute walk from the Sears Tower where Seth worked. I was 6 months pregnant when we bought it. If we had already had a kid, maybe we would've ended up in Lincoln Park (think Park Slope) or Lincoln Square. But we were thinking "cool" not "kid friendly." So we bought a second floor condo with only two bedrooms. No room to play outside. Not a lot of room to play inside, either.

Then we found out it had a leak. Then the whole building leaked. Then we were in a very long, stressful, expensive lawsuit. Then our front wall was ripped out and replaced with plastic sheeting for 5 months. All that to say, it was stressful. And I wanted out. I wanted to move to the 'burbs, where we could have a yard and a basement. And we could own a house. And if the house leaked, so be it. At least we wouldn't be part of an association and have to fix it right away.

It was also really hard for us to find community. It took a long time to settle into a church. And after we moved to the West Loop, my two closest friends moved. One moved to the 'burbs. One moved to Denver (thanks for nothing, Lindsay!!). So for me, city living meant lack of community, stressful living situation, and very limited options of things to do with the kids. Because we were in the West Loop, we weren't close to the el. So we had to walk everywhere or drive (and thus pay lots in parking everywhere we went).

And life is more expensive in the city. Impossible to buy a house. Crazy expensive preschool. Very limited options for schooling. Chicago city tax.

Then, we finished the fix on the condo and could put it up for sale. And Seth got a new job in Itasca, by O'Hare. And he worked normal hours now. Yea!! A move to the 'burbs, cutting commuting time, would give us another two hours together. So, we put it up for sale and crossed our fingers. Ten weeks later, we sold it.

Now we live in Wheaton. It's lovely. It's green. The schools are great, the parking is free, the people are nice. We love it. We love our church (it's charismatic Anglican; how cool is that? Susan Howatch would be so proud!!). We're renting and it's so great to not have to worry about anything housing-related.

So, all that to say. We are really glad we made the switch. The boys love to run around in the yard. It feels more manageable. Less stressful. And we get more time together. Maybe if we had moved to Lincoln Park, which is more family-oriented, and Seth continued to work in the city, and we hadn't had any condo issues, we'd still be in the city. There are ways to make it work; lots of families love to raise their kids in Chicago. We just weren't one of them.