A Minnesota Baby... in DC: Our Neighborhood

The last few evenings have reminded me how lucky I feel that Crysten found or little Minneapolis-like town home with creaky floors and big windows. The people of Fairlington are very proud of their community. And it seems since the summer began everyone is outside frolicking with their toddler or young child all of the time. Our pool has opened which means we are there daily, chatting with the Ukrainian life guard, and throwing Minnie Mouse dolls across the pool only to save them seconds later.

Next door, we have a family with a four year old boy who is outdoors from 5 until 6 then 6:30 until 7 as children are. He and Louisa have formed a special bond of sharing and refusing to share their toys, golf clubs, balls, chalk, everything. Yesterday afternoon we took some friends to our heated pool and I decided to return home earlier so I could start dinner. When I arrived there the little boy was, sitting on our front step, waiting for Louisa and didn't leave until I fetched her. But of course, this family is moving in a month so we are very sad about this.

The day before, Amos had practice and Louisa and I decided to walk around the block. About 50 feet from our house we encountered a woman returning from work. Of course, LJ charmed her and she ended up coming back to our house with us, sitting on the front step and talking to Louisa about anything and everything Disney (she is getting married at Disney World next year, so this woman knows her stuff). Twenty minutes later our new neighbor stopped by to introduce himself, explaining that he knew we had a toddler from the sidewalk art that renewed itself every few days. And sure enough, a few minutes later, out came our neighbor boy and his dad and we sat on our front steps and visited until the kids had droopy eyes and lost all enthusiasm for each other.

We are so lucky to live in a place with such friendly, outgoing neighbors so interested in forming friendships. We said that Portland is a great place for a transplant because people are so invested in relationships, and DC is definitely less so, but I do think we've found a little pocket of conviviality in this area. We may not establish the strong, life-long friendships we did in Portland, but I'm sure we will find people to love and, most importantly, swim with.

Also, I took LJ to a United game on Saturday. A bunch of people from my work went so I thought, with the number of people there, Louisa would be entertained. She was wonderful during the game, playing with her dolls, flirting with a co-worker and eating hotdogs. At the end of the night she discovered my friend's husband and spent the time waiting for Amos being chased by him.

And! I have to say, as much as I miss Portland for the people, I do not miss the weather. I went to the game carrying coats and sweaters for LJ and me after many games that started in heat and ended at 50 degrees in Portland. But as I walked out of the stadium at 10pm last Saturday in nothing but a tank top, I thought, it is so very nice to have real summer back.