Thursday, May 21, 2009

Something's fishy....


Blaine grew up on a cul-de-sac full of friendly people with lots of children. One of the first times I went to the cul-de-sac was when my friends older brother was dropping everyone off there, I heard him refer to the cul-de-sac as the "Celestial Circle". Like a little secret place where life was simple and people were good and no one had to be afraid. It was a reprieve just a quarter mile away from my own house, where there were drive by shootings and homeboys running amok.

Sometimes I regret the house we bought. Especially since house prices have tumbled in the two years since we have lived here and if we would have only waited two years we could have gotten eight thousand free dollars and a much better interest rate on our house. Sometimes I wish that we had an island in the kitchen. When I am pregnant (which has been about 90% of the time we've lived here) I wish that we would have opted for a one story. When there is a storm I wish we would have gotten a house with a bigger under the stairs closet. When I mow the lawn I wish we had a flatter lot or a smaller yard. But I will tell you what, I have never, ever, not even for one second, regretted our location.

On our last day of house hunting we saw five houses, all the exact same price. Three of them were in this neighborhood and two were out in a different city. Some houses were bigger, a better deal. But when we drove up the street to the house that we almost bought (instead of this one) there was no one outside, on a Saturday morning no one was out washing their cars, no kids playing, dead. When we drove up to this one tons of people were outside, mowing their lawns, kids playing catch, etc. More specifically all of the people in our circle were sitting outside talking to each other while their kids played. I was sold.

Who needs a kitchen island? Vaulted ceilings? Not me! I have landed myself in my very own Celestial Circle, and that is something that money can't by. I trust my neighbors with my life (literally, some of them are Paramedics), I trust them with my kids, I just absolutely love them. Tons of kids, lovely adults, Christmas parties, fun. I am confident that we could not have chosen a better place to raise our family!

That being said one of our neighbors is moving. Actually they moved this morning. And my heart is breaking. There are still plenty of other awesome neighbors, but oh how I will miss Annie! I'll miss her boys running outside in their BVDs, I'll miss the smell of their bbq dinner wafting through the air, I'll miss helping her chase down her dog...and her helping me chase down mine! I've always been the one to move, the one to make promises of coming back and visiting often. I am also the one to know that those promises are often forgotten.

Man, it's hard to be the one being left behind!

This wasn't meant to be a sentimental post about our neighborhood. It was meant to be a funny post about how Annie came over yesterday to return our fish. We got a fish at the beginning of December last year. Then we left for vacation at the end of December and had Annie pet sit.

Guess who forgot they owned a fish? Annie pet sat for six months. SIX MONTHS. Now that is an awesome neighbor.

That being said, anybody want a beta fish? Anyone? It comes with food and a bowl, I have more living organisms to care for in this house than I can handle : )

11 comments:

Strong Family - said...

Zach is working towards earning one actually, but it's gonna be at least a month before he does. (He has to be on good behavior) If your fish is still around in a month we'll call ya. :-) Lauree

Wendy said...

I haven't heard it referred to as Celestial Circle for a long time (probably ever since Celeste moved!) No those were the good old days! I'm glad you love your neighborhood!

No thanks on the fish. Your last line says it all for me. I could only handle my children and a garden (no pets, no pets)

Corbett Family said...

I'm glad I read your post. It reminded me to feed our fish. What was I thinking letting J.D. get a fish when I was 8 1/2 months pregnant?

Blaine said...

The fish thing is funny but I'm glad you wrote a sentimental ode to our great neighbors and especially to Brian and Annie. They all deserve it!

Janae said...

Did you really forget that you owned a fish? That is funny stuff. I never want a pet, not even a fish. I am glad you have such a fun neighborhood. I have interesting neighbors, but I can't blog about them, they read my blog!

Shanon said...

We fish sat for the weekend once. The kids loved it until it started swimming. Then Carson freaked out. No...no...stop...get out!! Every time it moved, he screamed. We put it up high so he would forget about it, then he was fine. So, no fish in our house for awhile.

JoAnna said...

THat is hilarious that you forgot you had a pet fish at your neighbors house! Hilarious!! And what a saint of a neighbor!

Jan said...

Could it be that they moved just so they could give you the fish back.

Sorry btw that you lived in such a terrible neighborhood growing up,
BUT I have always loved it here :)
AND you grew up only a block or so away from Celestial Circle

Melissa Ash said...

Man! I wish I could have lived in a "celestial circle!" I lived in a cul-de-sac, but it definitely was NOT like Blaine's experience! We had the drive by shootings, the cars running through our fence, over our lawn, crappy neighbors!! :)

Our neighbors have dogs, that is all I will allow!! No pets living under my roof! Like you said, I can't even handle all living things under my roof sometimes!!!

Stef Bassett said...

love it Kristi, you are an amazing writer! hope you guys are having tons of fun!

Robin said...

That's one thing I regret about where we live right now. It's the neighborhood where we all tend to stay in our houses and not know each other. One day I got stopped behind a school bus and I couldn't believe how many kids stepped off that bus! It was about 100 more than I ever see outside playing. Sad. I hope our next home will be in an area like yours.