A little more than a month ago, Pete went to a job interview in Boston.
“BOSTON?!”, we thought, “As if we would EVER move to BOSTON!”. I’m almost positive my exact words as I dropped him off at the airport were, “Get a grip on life. There is no WAY I’m moving. Nope. Enjoy your flight!”. A few weeks later they asked him to return for a second interview, and invited me along for the night. I mumbled and grumbled around the crooked sidewalks of South End like the Grinch of Beantown until I realized that it actually wasn’t *so* bad. In fact?
I started to think Boston was kind of cute. Like a teeny, tiny, REALLY CLEAN version of Park Slope. Kind of. So when we returned to Brooklyn, our cozy apartment now seemed claustrophobic and maddening. The impending cost of LJ’s preschool for next year seemed asinine. Some unhinged maniac kept setting off fireworks in the middle of the night that sounded like gunshots. Everything just seemed too loud, too crowded, and too expensive. We started to question our choices.
Weeks later, Pete received an amazing offer, I cried my eyes out, and the decision was made. One morning, when we told a sleepy LJ we were moving to a city called Boston where we could get a house with a yard she looked at us excitedly and shrieked,
WITH A SWIMMING POOL?!!
Uh, no, definitely not with a pool.
WITH A KITTY CAT?!!!
Sure, you can get a kitty.
YAY!! HOLD ON!! LET ME GET MY SHOES!!
So, that’s it. This chapter of our lives, with these playgrounds, friends, dance classes, brownstones, museums, subways, bus rides and stoop chats are over. All of my daughter’s favorite things, the ONLY things she knows, she probably won’t even remember.
So this post is for her, because I don’t want her to ever forget where her life began.
(Please excuse me while I go sob into my everything bagel with lox.)
Boston, here we come!
Home
27 Comments
I really hate saying anything nice to anyone on the internet, but this is really sweet. Enjoy Boston, but don’t let your daughter become a Red Sox fan. We’ll keep ya posted about all things Slope…
Thanks. She will never become a Red Sox fan. We’re a Mets house. More importantly, we’re a JETS house. It’s KILLING me that I’m moving to Patriots territory. Fucking Brady…
You are right, she may never remember it, but like the rest of us from the “town we came from” it is part of the fiber of her childhood and has shaped the way she looks at life. THAT will always remain. Good luck!
Absolutely. Thanks, mama.
Awwww so sad that you’re leaving your beloved Park Slope. It’s funny that you said it though….but I thought that Boston had a very similar feel to your neighborhood too! Will you be living in the city or in the surrounding suburbs?
We can’t live in Boston proper because apparently the public schools aren’t great, and we don’t want to have to pay for private. So right now we’ll start our search in Cambridge, but we’re not against going a little into the burbs just to get the space + excellent schools. The whole idea of searching stresses me out in a big way.
Oy, I know the feeling. Five months ago we left our life in Toronto – the only city, the only house my kids have known – to move out to a new, different life in small town. They won’t even remember life in Toronto, though I may mourn it everyday. But then, I try to remember that my parents made the same decision when they left Brooklyn for Toronto, 36 years ago. Good luck; I’m sure you’ll love Boston. Bring enough bagels to freeze.
Oh, wow: so how IS it living in a new, small town? I usually don’t handle change well. I’m 50% psyched to be able to have a garden and big kitchen, and 50% dry heaving because, well, it’s new. Maybe before I leave I’ll ask my fave bagel shop to take me in as an apprentice and teach me the NYC secret to the best bagels. That way I’ll just make them myself.
Love this and all the photos! I’m originally from Boston and visit whenever I can. I’m glad your daughter will have a yard and a kitty cat. Maybe you could name the cat Brady?
GASP!!! I’m going to wear a Jets jersey every single day, now.
She will remember Brooklyn! I moved from the suburbs of Boston to the suburbs of New York City when I was 4 and I remember everything about our outside Boston house, neighborhoods, friends, preschool, etc. And as you know, we just moved back to Florida after a year in Berlin and my son, who was 3 when we left, remembers everything. Even how to get to our house from the airport. You just have to keep the memories alive as time goes on!
On another note, we moved from Manhattan to Tallahassee, FL in 2006. Talk about culture shock. But I have loved having a house (except when it needs a new roof) and living in horse country. It really is so much better for kids. As long as you can get out and travel.
I’m so happy for you and your cute family!!
Aww, I hope so Courtney! I totally agree about traveling: so important if you have the means, and very important to us.
This post makes me happy in a big way, maybe in a selfish way. Because I love New York, but I can see you in Boston just as much (Boston is my favorite US city). And also because you caught me at a time when I’m yearning for forward motion and hoping a new adventure finds my family as it has yours. I’m proud of you. I’m happy for you, and more than anything, I’m so excited for you. Congratulations on letting the flow of life propel you both and LJ forward. Can’t wait to read about your new architecture.
lots of love to all of you. Keep me in your thoughts for new adventures my way!
Gasp! I have a GREAT IDEA!! Maybe YOU guys can move to Boston, also! YAAAYY!!!
Thanks for the sweet comment. I’m excited, also. Scared, but thrilled for something new. I know Lotte will be happy where ever she is as long as we’re still there to dole out the hugs and tickles.
Hope you have a great time and lots of new adventures in Boston!
Thanks, Grace!
waaaaaaaaah.
brooklyn just got a little less cool.
this post is awesome, though. as always.
check your email soon.
xoxo
Congratulations on a new chapter! Boston is cool.
We traded Los Angeles for North Carolina for a lot of the same reasons: better (bigger, more affordable) housing, better schools, better career. Our son was 4 when we moved, and he remembers a lot of very specific things about living in L.A., but there is so much that he’s forgotten already.
I hope your move goes well and you love your new home!
Oh, wow: LA for NC is a HUGE change! I lived in Raleigh for a few yrs and LOVED it, but still, so different from a place like LA.
Thanks for the well wishes.
Boston is an amazing city! It is incredibly clean and so many brownstone lined streets. And amazing shops and culture culture culture! Also don’t forget Harvard Square and The River. All of the students from MIT and Harvard. Oh I love that place! I’m jealous! There are amazing little shops and craft stores galore, awesome little hidden gems selling old vinyl records…the list could go on and on. Oh and the childrens museum will be such a thrill for all of you! I lived about twenty minutes outside of Boston in a little town called Arlington, next to Cambridge for three years. It’s a great town with great schools. I loved living there. It’s adorable. Old historic homes and a really nice little town center. It’s where I went to my last year of High School. My husband’s company has an office in Boston and I often ask him to see if he can transfer (not likely to happen anytime soon as he runs the Long Island division of his corporation). I don’t aspire to raising my kids on Long Island. However it works for now and his job allows me to stay home until my babies go to school. I have lived in a few places: Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Oregon, and NY. I have also visited nearly every state (but Alaska, Arizona and Kansas) and Boston is at the TOP of my list of favorite destinations and places i would move to tomorrow! If the opportunity ever presented itself I’d be packing in a heartbeat! Oh and you won’t be far from Kelly and her little one.
That’s so funny you lived in Arlington: Kelly JUST texted me that we should look there when we come up! I know we’ll love it. I know I’ll love it. I think I just don’t handle change well, and we had such a sweet little thing here (emphasis on LITTLE
) that it tears me up to leave. It’ll be great, though. Boston’s lovely.
Love all the pics! She’ll remember bits and pieces – sofia can recall things from when she was only 20mths old! BUT, she’ll definitely remember it more when you guys move back!!!!
I hope so. (As the pics of Sofia and lotte at the cabana are on the slideshow on the tv right now, making me cry.)
You will love it but I def feel your pain when it comes to change. I’m trying to sell my townhouse and move to a bigger place here on LI and I know when the day comes to move I will be sobbing. All the memories made in a home are so hard to leave behind. Your pics are precious. Arington is fabulous. If you are looking to buy right away my Aunt owns a historic 3 story home within walking distance to the center. It needs a tooooooonnnnnn of work! But its very very very cheap and massive potential. I wanted to buy it from her.
The photos are gorgeous.
In sobbing right along with you.
It could be your creative writing skills or it could be my meds that need adjusting.
Either way I’m wishing you luck on your move.
Thank you, Leighann! Here’s to a new year of feeling good and taking on change.