Green Acres is the Place to Be....

We're doing it. After 12 years in the big city we're moving back to Yakima. These city slicker girls are in for a big change of life. Kendall (6) and Taylor (3) have only known a place where you can hear your neighbor's shower running. Soon they will hear frogs and crickets and live next door to a horse.

I have to admit I'm a little nervous. I've grown accustomed to things in the big city too. In addition to our great friends and family that we are leaving behind, here are some of the other things that I will miss:

1. Recycling made easy. I'm spoiled. I throw everything in a large blue bin and a big truck picks it up from my curb every Friday. I don't have to separate anything. I better get myself a big truck so I can haul the recycling somewhere each week. I looked at recycling information on-line today and there was a long list of where to take things. Looks like we will be making trips to numerous places each week to get rid of the stuff we don't want going to the landfill. I'm really going to miss those big trucks.

2. Amazing parks! Really, I can't say enough about the parks in Kirkland, Bellevue and Redmond. We took the girls to a few parks in Yakima this weekend to show them that there are fun things to do there. Sigh..... I'll miss these parks. A patch of grass, swampy water with a few ducks, and a climber with curse words written in black marker just won't be the same. If I win the lottery, I will build a place in Yakima just like Grasslawn Park.

3. Restaurants. I love good food from great restaurants and there are hundreds here to choose from.

4. Water. Lakes, Puget Sound, rivers, clear blue skies, snow capped mountains all in one spot. There really isn't anything more beautiful than that. I have a love/hate relationship with Seattle. I love it 3 months out of the year but I hate the 9 months of drab, gray.

5. Anonymity. I like going into public and not knowing anyone. I don't have to worry about what I look like or how I'm dressed. I feel more self concious in Yakima. I don't really know why. I guess because there is so much history there. There is a saying about being truly yourself when you are around people who don't know you. There is a lot of truth in that.

6. Green. Lush, green plantings. Kendall has had a hard time accepting that we are moving. It's scary for her because she has never lived anywhere else. The other day she said "It's just so creepy there. Here, it rains and then the sun comes out and the grass is dark green. There it's brown". I understand what she's saying. It is so green and refreshing here when the sun is out. I just keep reminding myself about how I feel about this area in February and March. I have amnesia when it comes to the weather here.

There are many more things that I will miss. But I look forward to coming back as a visitor and doing the things that I never took the time to do while I lived here. Interesting how that works.

Here are the things that I won't miss:

1. Coffee. I don't drink it. Not going to miss it.
2. Vitamin D deficiency.
3. Endless gray and rainy days.
4. Ridiculous housing prices and high overall cost of living.
5. Traffic.
6. Traffic.
7. Traffic