Metal Meredith

I will fully admit, I love living in the suburbs. So now, I will probably get a swift and immediate refusal letter from the ‘cool people organization’ that I have been campaigning to join for years.

Once, I lived in the city and loved it. It was my first apartment, a 12 unit building built long ago. I occupied number 5, downstairs in the back. I had a parking space outside my door. I would leave leftovers from Starbucks on the top of the garbage bins for the homeless guys that lived in my alley. I walked to the coffee shop and the local restaurant/bar on snow days, when the rest of the city was incapacitated. Phil rode his bike from his house to mine when the weather permitted.

I was in my 20s. I was childless and husbandless and worked my 40+ hour a week job. I loved being where all the action was. Now that I am a wife, mother and in need of diapers and earache drops at 10 at night, being a cool kid never meant so little.

A new Target opened up on October 14th, less than .5 miles from my house. I can only listen to one song on the iPod before landing at the front doors. I watched the darn thing being built for months and months. Vivienne commented each time we passed it. We packed up the family on grand opening day, drove the 3 minutes it took to get there and took a look. I took pictures, Vivienne acted like a goober, Phil tried to convince me to buy a plasma TV and remote helicopter, and Henry ate Cheerios in his stroller. We went down as many isles as the kids could handle. It was great.

I realized shortly after that I love the suburbs. I do. I freely admit it. I love being able to jump in the car and get gas, diapers, food, furniture, a tan, a cell phone, a manicure, screws, and a super jumbo 50 roll pack of toilet paper within a 10 mile area. Urban sprawl sucks and I don’t see the need for one more strip mall with a Verizon Wireless, tanning salon and nail place. But I am a total liar if I didn’t admit to doing a giddy happy dance when I saw that an Old Navy is coming near my house. I dare any of the cool city kids to promise they wouldn’t drive the 25 minutes it will take them to peruse the new Whole Foods that will be opening 10 minutes from my house.

We went to the Apple Festival today near Charlottesville. Phil and I fantasized about living on one of the farms, in the rolling, plush hills of western Virginia. It all looked so peaceful and serene and quiet. Then Vivienne whined about being hungry as she watched Dora from the back seat, Henry needed a bottle and a nap and Phil was telling me about needing a better wireless connection. Then we headed back, happily. 

I am going to give this a try all the while cheating on this first post (and posting it on Nov 2nd).

It is National Blog Posting Month where people try to post every day for the month of November. Trust me, you will inevitably see a lot of photos, which is unfair. But as a mother of two, who is currently suffocating under the task of catching up the husband’s accounting after allowing it to fester since....*cough* March *cough*.....I will be posting when my mind feels like it needs a reboost into the land of the alphabet from the land of numbers.

Until then, enjoy this logo:

And visit the ridiculous site that the logo is referring to: I Can Has Cheezeburger.