City Mouse, Country Mouse?

This past weekend we had to leave our temporary housing for a few days (yes, we had to find temporary housing from our temporary housing. Ha! It’s like Russian dolls housing right now! Laughorcry laughorcry) As I have been spending many work nights at the Hyatt Deerfield for the last year I have plenty of hotel points, so we headed downtown for a weekend at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. This hotel is in a great spot – at the end of Nicollet Mall. For those not from the Twin Cities, Nicollet Mall is like a cross between Michigan Avenue and State St. Only buses and cabs on the street, nice wide sidewalks and plenty of shops and restaurants. For those of you who do live in the Twin Cities, you know how beautiful this past weekend was. Amazing.
There were a couple realizations I had that I wanted to share with everyone. First, this worked out to be a great way to continue our farewell tour of Minneapolis. When Sarah and I moved here eight years ago we lived downtown on the Mississippi River. (well, not ON the river like in a houseboat or something) We were city people. We came from Chicago’s North Side and San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. We loved the vibrancy of the city, the opportunity to walk different places, being so close to so much. Once Grace became a little older we were pulled down to South Minneapolis, which completely exceeded my expectations. As we added a second and then a third child and as we grew roots in our neighborhood, we found ourselves downtown less and less. So it was great to bring the kids down to spend a few days downtown before we move away, to let them see more than the Holidazzle Parade. We walked from one end of Nicollet to the other, spending a good chunk of time at the beautiful Central Library. We dined al fresco, the kids enjoying gourmet chicken fingers at The News Room. We walked by Brit’s Pub and I flashed back to a time when I was more apt to spend my Saturday afternoons at a tavern than at a t-ball field. And the best part of being downtown – the people-watching! All kinds, I must say. (I feel so naked without a tattoo or piercing. I’m such a square) While running a quick errand I had the following exchange with my big-hearted daughter:
“Dad, what did that guy ask you?”
“He asked me for money.”
“Why?”
“I think he’s poor. He doesn’t have a job and probably doesn’t have a home.”
“Why didn’t you give him any? We just got $100 out at the bank. That’s a lot of money.”
(uncomfortable silence)
“Um, I guess because a lot of people are asking for money and if we gave it to everyone who asked we wouldn’t have any.”
This leads to the second realization I had this weekend. That exchange with Grace was uncomfortable, but it is also the kind of thing parents who raise their kids in cities count as a positive. We think letting them grow up in a situation where they deal with those more colorful experiences will make them better people. Now, 47th Street & 4th Avenue isn’t exactly downtown and the soccer games at McRae Park can feel pretty suburban, but our kids are at city schools and still deal with city situations. Neither Sarah nor I grew up in the city, in fact we both grew up quite contrary to that. But we’ve lived in the city since we met eleven years ago and have long considered ourselves “city folk”. But this new adventure puts us well out of the city camp , there’s no arguing that. Five acres of land on a county road. Suburban schools. Rarely a reason to go into downtown Indianapolis. So are Sarah and I ready to go from city folk to country folk?
The move seems to be a natural progression. We rarely dine out now, and Sarah has been craving more dirt in which to plant vegetables. Put those three kids in the backyard and it seems super small – it doesn’t take much of a hit to put the spongeball into the neighbor’s yard. There are great parks in Minneapolis, but it will be a long time before we would be comfortable letting the kids go off on their own. So a big chunk of land out in the country is something we’re excited about for the whole family. (I’ll let Sarah and Gretchen sing the praises of the book “The Last Child in the Woods”. If you’ve read it, you know what we’re going for here).
So I’m glad we got to do Downtown Minneapolis for one more weekend. But I’m also glad our family is going to experience something completely different in Indiana. We’ll see how well Sarah and I adjust to the culture change and life out of the city for the first time in a long time. And if any of you happen to see my FaceBook status as “the breadsticks at Olive Garden are to die for!” please recognize it as a cry for help.