This one is for you.

I love living in the city.  Love it.  I walk about five blocks to work each day.  Depending on the direction I take, I can choose from about three coffee shops to stop and get my latte.  We walk to Whole Foods, the pharmacy, the dry cleaners, bookstore, metro, restaurants, shopping and parks.  Our condo is located between some of the best sightseeing destinations in the city.

The things we don’t have living downtown, I never missed a couple years ago.  But now, their absence weighs heavy on us.  The downtown DC public schools are beyond terrible (truly some of the worst in the country), parks are equal parts green space and homeless camps, our back “yard” is a parking lot where in the morning you can commonly find used condoms and the occasional needle, and our neighbors do not have children.

We decided it was time.  We sold our condo a few weeks ago (we close at the end of the month), and we are now under contract for a house we fell in love with in the family friendly Chevy Chase DC neighborhood (we close mid-May).  We love the house, it has a small front yard and back deck, is a half-mile from a beautiful park and elementary school, but over a mile from the nearest coffee shop, bookstore, etc., and at least two miles to the Whole Foods and metro.  My commute to work though only 6 miles, will likely be a 30-40 minute drive.  So it is with equal parts sadness and excitement that we start packing.  I hope the house and community we are moving to will be a place Oliver can call home and make friends.  Maybe Joe and I can even meet some other families.   

Once we make it through closing and the move is final, we will send out the new address.  In the meantime, feel free to plan your next visit to DC, we will have a bed ready for you, but we will no longer be able to offer you the easy metro access and short walk to the Mall.

Goodbye, city living.

Hello, green grass.