Getting ready for Germantown, baby

I'm writing from a funky coffee shop (for you readers in the Netherlands, that's a cafe selling coffee rather than a Dutch "coffee" shop offering marijuana) in our old neighborhood in the middle of Memphis. Midtown Memphis is where one can find such coffee shops full of artists and musicians, streets full of quaint old bungalows with lots of light and Obama yard signs, folks whose values and tastes are often like ours. Indeed about 90% of our friends live here. And yet, this isn't where the house we will get keys to on Friday is. We've gone and bought ourselves a home in the suburbs, in Germantown (of all names) Tennessee. This is a pretty radical shift for us, and one that we're at times pretty uncertain about. Without trying to lay out all the pros/cons that we considered (the list was extensive), the big pluses for Germantown came down to proximity to nature (a river, a greenway and many parks close by) being able to bike around, a home with a lot of trees, little maintenance and a big screened in porch and extra room for visitors and a great public school just around the corner. So we're both hopeful and a bit reluctant in this move. Are we going to find any kindred spirits out there or will we always be driving into midtown for companionship, and will we get enough opportunity to see our midtown friends? The list goes on.

But we can't worry too too much, we've got a baby to get ready for, a three-year old daughter to get ready to be a big sister, Ryan's got a new job to adjust to and, oh yeah, a house to move into. We need to find our camera and get pictures up of this belly. I want to throw out there that public commentary from strangers on one's physique while pregnant is generally not welcome and, though it may be tempting, neither is reaching out to touch a pregnant woman's belly (unless you know her, and then, depending, it may be a good policy to ask first). Getting my coffee just now two men gawked asked each other what they'd do if I went into labor here, talked about how I was going to fall over forward, that I needed a table to rest that thing on, etc etc. Are folks not used to seeing 8 month along pregnant women out and about? I suppose my belly is rather, shall we say, projecting straight out forward, but a little consideration towards one who lives with such a belly every minute may give one pause enough to just smile and keep one's interior dialogue interior. Being in public now is all about running the gauntlet of stares and comments from strangers, none of which at this point are original. It's enough to make a Minnesota nice girl weary of being nice. My sister Emily, who is now able to cuddle that sweet little Franny girl on the outside, warned me about this. I think I maybe missed it a little bit as with Ellie my pregnancy came to an end with a coat on.

Speaking of Ellie--she is doing well and loving seeing Memphis folks, but she really misses Maastricht. She often asks to see her neighborhood and school friends, to go have waffles or croissants or nougat, to ride our bike around and she protests about getting into the car. "This isn't far, why can't we just bike?" she asks--I look around and agree with her while gasping at how dangerous biking is in the United States compared to the Netherlands. The good news is that the shipment with Pancake bike from Maastricht arrives in a week and so we hope to add that important component to our lives again soon. Ellie's been really resilient--she's moved from Minneapolis to Memphis to Maastricht and back to Memphis in her short three years--there must be some life lessons sinking in somehow.

So all shall be well--we're settling in, getting ready, enjoying the good folks around here while being thankful for all the other good folks in all the other corners of the world. Thinking of you and hoping to be more in touch when we're more internet connected and more settled.