The Suburbs

We spent your first Easter in the suburbs of Milan at Zia Moira's house. It was a great holiday, fun, relaxing, and most importantly populated by family. Zia Moira is the most fantastic and dynamic of stay at home moms that I have ever met. She is full of energy and always a step ahead of everyone else. I have always felt this way about her, but being a mom now too, I feel even more inadequate than before. I was exhausted nearly the whole trip given the mental slow down of not having to take care of my own house and having six other people to play with you whenever you chose. But nevertheless it was a fantastic trip.

Zia Moira, Zio Iso, Maira and Omar live in the suburbs of Milan, in a town not completely different from the one I grew up in, in California. Green grass always just cut, lines the yards and streets of the town. There is always talk in the house or amongst neighbors of the more scandalous figures in the community, and from the outside a real sense of groundedness and home abounds. Comparing our city life to that of your cousins, I found myself feeling as if city life were temporary and fleeting, when really it is just as fixed as life anywhere else. Perhaps not having a piece of land to call your own is the reason why the two things feel so different.

I started to wonder, then, what life would be like for you if we lived in the suburbs. Or what life would be like for Daddy and me. It is true, I grew up in surburbia and though I miss it sometimes, I don't think I want it for you. Surburbia may offer security, but it can also feel like a bubble that you feel like you have to break out of in order to grow. In the city, life is what it is. There is no romance or mystery about it.

After Easter we said tearful goodbyes to your cousins, aunt and uncle, and the suburbs and returned to Roman city life. Now that you are in our lives, emotions seem to boil just under the surface of every member of our family. Grandma and Grandpa will soon be coming to Rome to celebrate your first birthday and I am trying not to think about how painful it will be when their trip is done and they'll have to go home. Family in all its shapes, colors, forms, and locations is the most important thing. Remember that.



Playing on the grass in the backyard...