I Live in a Bubble . . . 

My bubble is called Santa Monica.  Maybe you know it?

I love where I live.  I really do.  In Januray, I’ll have been in Santa Monica for four years (How did that happen?). I moved here right before I had Landon.  Yes, I was 8 months pregnant.  I have a theme going on of doing crazy things while I’m pregnant.  LOL

Anyways, the reason I bring “my bubble” up is because I’ve been back in Chicago for a few weeks now. I’ve been staying in both the suburbs of Downers Grove and Naperville, where my parents and in-laws live, as well as some time downtown Chicago. On one of my first days back in town, I was driving around and Landon (my 3-year-old) says to me from the backseat, “Mommy, are you lost?” I laughed as I tried to figure out why he would think such a thing, and I realized it’s because we live in “a bubble.”  In Santa Monica, I rarely ever drive anywhere beyond a 5 mile radius. In fact, I can actually walk most places, but I quickly adapted to the LA mentality of “Let me jump in my car to drive 2 blocks.” I know – the New Yorker in me really just wants to slap me across the face and say “Use your legs!” In fact, my husband usually does (minus the slap across the face), as he LOVES to walk EVERYWHERE.  My answer to Landon was something like, “We’re not at home in Santa Monica right now. It’s going to take a little longer to get there.”

It’s a funny thing living somewhere that you didn’t grow up. I’d actually recognized our “bubble” situation a while ago. I had just gotten Landon this amazing calendar (Check it out at Lakeshore Learning.) that I use to help teach him about the months, days, and of course seasons. Yes, seasons!  I love seasons, especially fall but guess what? We don’t really have them in Santa Monica. Landon totally gets winter because we are always back in Chicago at Christmas, but fall and spring?  How do I explain that when we pretty much live in sunshine and 70 degree weather all year? I know, poor me, right?  Trust me, I love it. It makes me so happy to walk outside in the beautiful weather and have the option to head to the beach, but I also love putting on a warm sweater and hat and walking in the leaves.  Any idea on how to recreate that in my “bubble?”

Like I said, I love “my bubble.” But there are definitely advantages and disadvantages.  Many of my friends know that my husband and I don’t know if we’ll stay in “our bubble” forever.  We love it for now, but it’s very different from where we grew up.  I’ll continue to search for the right answer during this journey of balancing WHAT I love with WHO I love, but in the meantime I’d love to hear from all of you, especially if you’re raising your kids somewhere different from where you grew up.  How did you choose where to live and raise your family?  What are the advantages and disadvantages to where you live?  We all experience it . . . please share and learn from each other.  That’s why I keep this blog . . . so please feel free to be a part of it.