Nowhere we'd rather be,

Tia Jo recently wrote a post in her blog about her current infatuation with living in New York, and I found it quite inspiring and invigorating to read. This morning, as the three of us got our spring greens, eggs, and meat from the Farmer's Market, I must concur with Jo: it feels really wonderful to love where you live!

Joanna's hometown is hosting the Pope at the moment, and ours happens to be hosting the Dalai Lama. Coincidence?? Well, yes. But anyway, I know that Brian and I both have written a few times recently about how thrilled we are to see the return of warm weather and sunshine, but it's more than that. The return of spring brings our community alive again in ways that are fundamentally important to why we worked hard to move here in the first place. The market this morning was filled with children of all ages (two of whom I "met" in-utero when their parents attended my childbirth classes!), the deli's patio was more crowded than the seating area inside, and Maia had ample opportunities to use one of her new favorite words: "Bike!" (Lots of families had ridden their bikes downtown, and they were parked all along the sidewalks.)

I really treasure the feeling of living in a place where there is a significant pride in and regard for the community. As opposed to some other places where I've lived and visited, a large percentage of the people here seem to care about local issues and about the quality of life. There were several people surrounding the Farmer's Market with petitions in-hand, asking voters to add signatures to this potential ballot issue or that candidate's run for local office. There's an engagement here with having a vibrant downtown that isn't drained of its life by big-box stores on the outskirts.

Driving back home through our neighborhood, many of our neighbors are doing yard work right now as I write this, and many others are walking along the streets with their kids on bikes and in strollers. I know that our subdivision is nothing special (it's typical American suburbia, except for the ethnic and cultural diversity of its residents), but today it feels like a great place to call "home," as opposed to the slushy, gray, cold winter days when the streets aren't plowed and no one is outside.