Congratulations on a good year well lived!
She's a little girl now!
I'm glad you found a corner of the world that feels right for your family.
Dude, I'm wellin' up down here! I know exactly of what you speak, I can't ever remember years or months of when things happened, other than European travels. But I seriously feel like I remember every minute of having decided to chuck the high tech world and stay at home with my little girl, showing her things, teaching her things, exploring our town from a fresh vantage point (that didn't involve beer goggles or $100/plate meals!) It's a spectacular experience.
someday we might leave D.C. to return to michigan for all those reasons. maybe we won't. but we love reading about how happy that move back has made your family.
Lovely and true, as always.
Excellent photo idea! And gorgeous post. And I think you said it with the "how we live" part.
I live in your former city and am raising a daughter there. I've met great new parents online and at the playgrounds and playgroups. It's a great place to raise kids, full of support and charm and shitty, expensive preschools. But yeah, I think we could live anywhere and be happy, depending on how we live. For now, we're happy here and hope to fill our time with many best years.
Mike
Is that the same outfit?
We left Chicago for the east coast to be close to family. Once in awhile, I'll get the itch to uproot and move and see what life is like elsewhere but when I see my kids with our huge extended family, I know we've made the right decision.
gorgeous. i am very happy for you. i am still a nomad but its comforting to hear of others finding their place.
Your post almost makes me sad that I'm getting my doctorate. It makes me wonder if I'm trading wonderful years like yours to pay off loans. However, I hold out hope that my husband will have the opportunity to do what you're doing and love it just as much.
We've recently moved from Vancouver, the Canadian version of San Franscico, to a northern city. We moved for my husband's work, a two year contract. We don't know what we'll do when the contract is over, where we'll go. We hope we'll find our true home soon, like you have in Detroit. The prospects of a cold winter (-40!) scares the crap out of me, but I'm excited to relive true seasons again and experience what they bring through the eyes of my son.
(On a completely different note, am I the only one who's surprised that the grafitti is the same one year later?)
This mirrors why we left Seattle for Albuquerque and how on the one hand, as grown-ups who love live music and museums and big cities, we miss it so, but on the other hand, as a family, it is better for us here.
Also, "domestic performance art..." that is great.
I love the photo of Juniper, then and now. My fiance and I moved from San Francisco to Albany, NY earlier this year. We premedidatedly moved east to be closer to our families as we begin to start our own. It's a very scary transition. I hope it turns out to be as rewarding as yours has been.
god damn. another gorgeous post. The San Francisco observations are pitch perfect. It's a very lonely place to be a young family. Congratulations on your lovely year and lovely girl.
This is so nice. We just celebrated our one year anniversary of moving from the east coast to the midwest. I was a lot more ambivalent than you about moving out here (I am from the east coast; my husband is from Madison), but now I feel very positive about it. I do miss New Jersey, but I miss it more for family and the beach than I do for other things.
A little more than one year ago, my wife and then 8-month-old son moved from Chicago back to my hometown of Kalamazoo so I could start over in a completely new career. In the year we've been here I've wondered many times if the change was worth it... reading your posts makes me feel like it was.
This is so sweet. I am a new SAHM and I am sure that in a year I will look back just as fondly. You write beautifully. Thank you for the post.
Am new to your blog and am hooked. Know exactly where you are coming from. We live in Paris (the French kind) and have 2 little people (3 and 1) and everyday, I say to myself that this is a twenty something city but not for us. Significant other doesn't agree quite yet, but he's thinking about it.
I'm a brand new mom (she's 2.5 weeks old) - originally from suburban Detroit but I've lived in San Francisco for the last 8 years. Your words rang so true for me. I just wanted to say thank you.
Our friends in San Francisco want to know "how (I) feel now that (I) can drink as much as I want again", as though that's the primary achievement at the end of pregnancy.
This is beautifully expressed, and I love the photo. I associate so many things with seasons -- falling in love with my husband when all the Christmas decorations and lights were out and finding out I was pregnant with Maggie (many years later) when the crocuses were coming up, just for starters. The sense-memory of those times are so tied up with the emotional memories for me that both times of year make me feel a little sentimental.
And speaking as a fellow Detroit parent, we're awfully glad you're here.
Enjoyed your post - among other points, it's interesting to learn about the history of Sweet Juniper. I live just outside of NYC and don't get the sense that it has a problem with losing families, at least not those with some money. I wonder if wonder if SF is really different than NYC. Do you think it would have been different if you became first time parents in the city at 32 or 33 as opposed to 26?
Carol: Yes, definitely.
She may have changed a lot in a year, but her baby doll still doesn't look a day over sixteen.
Oh Dutch, if ONLY there were more men out there like you, that could at least gain the objectivity to realize that the perpetuation of youth (or at least your 20s) is about as constructive as attempting time travel. I am losing patience by the day with people (ok, mostly men) who take a look at their lives and conclude that an age like 40 - FORTY - is about when it's time to start settling down. It's absurd and sooooo frustrating. I continue to read this blog for the comfort of knowing that not all are so delusional. Your odes to fatherhood are just wonderful. Thank you! ~ss
yet again, beautiful post.
Very well written and said. I miss aspects of the Bay area and especially San Francisco. But I miss Iowa more because of the open space and the time in the summer where you can see thousands of fireflies converging over the corn stalks like waves. PA has it's beauty too and I am just beginning to find that with my children.
Wow, how you write about SF if exactly how I feel about living in LA. Give that kid a high five from me for screaming at the Gov - oh how I blame her that my kids are stuck out here and not running around laughing with their cousins at home in MI.
Wow. I think you coined it perfectly. I am going to print this one out and pass it out to all the friends I once had. Sadly, I just lost the last of my girlfriends. Seriously, that post is amazing.
And I am glad you are having a great time...for whatever thats worth!
And JG - Ha! I know what you mean! I feel you on that one, all my friends want me to 'come meet them for drinks' all the time. I am fighting it still but I think I have to give it up. So tired of trying to explain.
I've always sort of felt the same age inside.
Here's to plenty more good years. Glad the move has been a success. PS: 2 to 3 = totally awesome. 3 to 4 = even better, so far.
I think I discovered this blog about a year ago, when you were making the move. Please know that I have enjoyed reading about the best year of your life, very much.
gorgeous, and i cried.
I adore the shots with plastic baby and Junie. And am amazed that the graffiti has remained the same for one whole year!
Thanks for a great post...
I think I may go to law school the year after next and although you say so little somehow your allusions scare me more than and outright tale of horror.
Maybe I'm not ready for law school.
You must visit Canada and Point Pelee where the Monarchs rest on their migratory journey. They even have a hotline.(519) 322-2371 It is only about an hour from the bridge. Plus you can go through Leamington and smell the aroma of the Heinz Ketchup Factory. Good times!
How awesome to be where you hoped to be, especially after making such a move. Kuddos to you and Wood. You have a charmed life, and it shows. Enjoy every minute, as you do. Hope Wood is feeling well --
Yet again, Dutch, just beautiful. You break my heart with this stuff. Here's to many, many more wonderful years full of all those perfect little things that make them so special.
This is the best post I have ever read.....amazing picture!
i remember that post a year ago and the line when you called wood downstairs with that voice reserved only for a spouse you've been stuck in the car with for days on end- loved how the sight of the mama possum brought it all together for you then, and still now.
i loved my teens and 20's, did most of what i wanted to then and have few regrets. glad i am in this mama phase now and can't imagine that lifestyle now or v/v. thanks for always reminding me to enjoy each day with my girl as an adventure to be cherished.
p.s. love junipers body language in #2 vs. #1- so much growth, yes? beautiful.
i happened to be winding my way around your old stomping grounds today and thought of how much i loved it and how sad i was that i'll never really know what a loft in the mission feels like to call home.
and yet, there is no room on those streets for toddler speak. lovely post.
Wow, you have mature tomato plants. That never happens in SF, whatever the season.
Great pic. How did baby doll (addie??) stay so clean, 1 year later?
The greater San Francisco Bay Area certainly misses you. Thanks for continuing to live well; anything less would be tragedy.
dr. pugawug: I believe this may be an alternate addie? I remember something about stocking up on the beloved addie dolls at one point. I'm assuming it's also an alternate jumper? or has she not grown much?
i cried too.
cheers to your best year.
God, has it really been a year? My mother is right, when you have kids the days crawl and the years fly.
Cheers to twelve months well lived, and to many more.
I have been reading you for a year now, I suppose-- thanks to Dooce. Thank you so much for keeping up the superlative work. You two inspire me on many different levels.
I dream of home on a regular basis. I don't actually want to live there anymore, but I wish my son was able to experience all of the hardship of the Midwest, in order to appreciate the beauty of...well, of life?
I was heartbroken for my first child even as my second child grew and twisted inside me. How would I make a space in this world for someone who couldn't possibly be as delightful as this little person I already adored more than earth and sky? Your anxiety is there even in the words you don't write, Dutch. And that's OK.
I know you will make a magical kingdom out of this mortal coil for both your children.
Truth is, you will love them differently, but not unequally. And you will see a side of Juniper you never have before. Priceless.
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