Cities

{Beckett at 3 months}

So I'm a mom now. Beckett was born on September 27, 3 weeks early and as you can see from the picture he is growing fast and I am thoroughly enjoying him. I seriously can't get enough of his little face. He lays asleep in my arms and I scroll through pictures of him on my phone just to see his funny expressions. I could write post after post about my new adventures in motherhood, and probably will, but the new year has me thinking of other things.

No, not resolutions. Those are too much pressure. I do have some goals (write a Manifesta post at least 2 times a week, only let every other book I read be about babies or parenting, learn to knit, etc...) but these are more of a loose outline of things to accomplish, and certainly not resolute. January has me taking stock in my life and thinking about where I am currently and how I came to be here - in a locational sense.

My formative years were spent in a far flung suburb of Chicago (over the Indiana border). While I have fond memories there, I love it only because of the people I find there. It did make me know that living in a strip mall ridden, subdivided, mcmansion ridden town was not what I wanted in the long term. And Ball State was a blast, but Muncie, IN has only a child's handful of gems in it's crap hole of a town.

The metropolis's of my life have been my real learning and growing experiences. Chicago energizes me like no other city I've ever lived in or visited. I spent a majority of my twenties living in amazing neighborhoods, going to Roosevelt University where I met people and took courses that changed my view of the world. I had the kind of romantic moments that made my girlfriends squeal with excitement and others that were so special, I may never share them with anyone. I learned who I was and what I wanted and I sometimes wonder if those things would have been different if I'd been living somewhere else.

Los Angeles, despite it's smog issues, has a way of refreshing me. It clears my head and makes life seem shiny and bright. I'm sure it has a lot to do with all that sunshine. I moved there for a person, not the city itself, but I found a place, with the help of some good friends and a little digging, that had fabulously unpretentious restaurants, hidden markets and hole-in-the-wall wine bars. I became an adult there - I got engaged, married and pregnant. But more importantly my husband and I figured out exactly what we wanted for our lives...okay, not exactly, but we figured out some of the larger puzzle pieces.

And that brings me to Louisville. I have to say, this city feels like home. It is a settled feeling, but not in the way you were never going to be as a teenager, more like a feather swoops to and fro through the air until it finally comes to rest gently on the ground. This city is filled with art, good food, music and great bars. There is plenty of suburban sprawl, but not in the majority of the city. We've positioned ourselves so things are walkable, which is important to me - a layover from Chicago life, which I missed in LA. I like knowing I'm in a place I will be for a long time, the place where I'll raise my children. It may not be my last city, but I have a feeling it will be the one I spend the longest in.