Finding Our Niche

I grew up in Farmville, USA. Our little town was literally surrounded by fields-corn, sugar beets, etc etc. Lots of farmers and farms. Lots of fresh produce, fresh milk, honey, and home grown (for lack of a better word) meat. My grandmother once served us a 28 pound turkey that she raised herself for Thanksgiving dinner. Fresh everything, it was wonderful.

I moved to a "big" city to go to college, then to another "big" city area (Chicago-land) after school. I loved being in those areas; lots of things to do, places to see, always someone to hang out with. Then we had Gabe-and yes, it was still fun and we were able to expose him to a lot of culture and we definitely had access to the best doctors around (thank GOD for that) but...it wasn't the ideal environment for raising kids (at least in Geo and my opinions)

We had Bitsy girl and knew we a)needed a bigger place and b)wanted to be out of the "city" We moved out to teeny tiny Maple Park and fell in love. Yes we are farther from things, but we know everyone, they know us and it's peaceful out here. Right now it's a little past dusk and it's silent other than the occasional car passing by the house.

We have lots of room to move; the kids can do whatever they want (within reason, of course ha ha) in our yard. They are helping Geo and I put in a garden, which, if anyone was wondering, is about 100 square feet. (Compared to our sixteen square foot garden last year, this is ENORMOUS) We've got pumpkin plants growing like crazy, we're battling birds eating our peas (damn you robin! don't make me let the cat out!)and I can dry a load of laundry in a few hours on the line that smells like fresh air as opposed to bounce. We're considering getting some chickens and maybe a rabbit or six two in the future.

We are in a good school district, we have a great library, and we not only KNOW our neighbors, we LIKE our neighbors. The kids are comfortable here, we are comfortable here. We've found our spot; our niche if you will. We feel like we're finally home and it's a good feeling. I am so glad we found where we are supposed to be while the kids are still young; we're home and glad to be here :)