As you guys know, I was born and raised on a farm in the country. I might have titled this blog "Small Town Girl", but in reality, that small town was still a good car ride away. In the summer I played in the sand pile, ate fresh vegetables out of a garden in the backyard ( I didn't eat canned green beans from a store until college!), and spent Saturday afternoons eating lunch with my dad and all his farmer friends at the local diner. I could walk out into our yard and hit a baseball as far as I wanted without hitting anything but a corn field or a barn, and my first time behind the wheel of a vehicle was at the age of 10 because somebody had to help and I was the only one left. It sounds like an idyllic childhood, for me, it was. I'm sure my mom will tell you there were days when I wouldn't come out of my room because no one would drive me the 20 minutes to the mall to meet my friends, but what I remember the most was reading books up in my favorite climbing tree and riding snowmobiles on the many days when snow and wind had made it impossible to leave the house any other way.
One of my biggest fears about bringing this baby into our world is not the fact that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, but that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing in a big city where I don't even have experience being a kid! I'm an expert at making dolls from hollyhocks and going on nature walks with a walking stick I picked up out of the yard - do city kids like this sort of thing? I feel like I need to observe the neighborhood kids and see what they do all day. I'm sure no one would call the police on me if I sat in the corner of the neighborhood park with my binoculars, right? What?! It's just research!
I'm sure we'll figure it all out - I mean B did grow up in the suburbs, so he has a little more city action under his belt than I do. Also, how cool is it going to be for cantaloupe to grow up visiting the Chicago Children's Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Cubs games, and eating Chicago style pizza? Chicago is going to be his or her hometown! I'm jealous just for the shear ease with which he/she will be able to answer the question "where are you from"? "West Point, a little town in Indiana outside of Lafayette which is right across the river from Purdue University", doesn't just roll off your tongue, you know? Most people's eyes just sort of glaze over after the first part and assume I meant West Point the United States Military Academy. Cantaloupe will just get to say "Chi-town represent!" Is it weird to be jealous of my unborn child?
Chicago, it's cantaloupe's kind of town!
xoxo
AK
p.s. Baby, I am 21 weeks along right now, and you are the size of a banana! I am currently not eating bananas because of this, and I also just sang Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" to remember how to spell banana. "Let me hear you say, this sh*t (PARENTAL CENSOR) is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S." Ok, no pearls of wisdom today from Momma. Momma needs to go home and do some yoga and recenter herself and eat like five handfuls of leftover Halloween candy. Namaste.
Some of my favorite childhood memories are of playing with you in the sand pile, going on nature walks, swinging on your swing set, getting to spend the night at your house and hang out with you at the county fair. I always looked forward to seeing you over the summer! It really was an idyllic time :)
ReplyDeleteSummer, do you remember that song Grandma Gamble used to sing to us when she pushed us on the swing? "How do you like to go up in the air? Up in the air so blue? Oh I do think it's the most wonderful thing ever a child could do." I think those were the words. I was trying to sing it for B last night!
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