We move in three days and I can’t even bring myself to believe it. Amidst the absolute mayhem that is packing, moving and parenting a child, I couldn’t help but take a few minutes to paint a picture of our life here in the North End that we’ve loved so much. I know I’m sounding dramatic here, but I want Delaney to maintain memories of this wonderful place and I hope this blog can serve as a place for that.

We are moving a mile away so while I feel like our life is going to be completely different, I know we will be in the NE all the time – I’m basically in Charlestown every day at the moment and you’d never even know.

Ever since I visited Boston in April of 2008 to see Emerson (grad school), my Dad and I decided I’d live in the North End. Back then, it wasn’t a possibility but I finally moved here after two years and Jordan and I have loved every second. We got engaged here, bought our first home here, had our first baby here, and became some semblance of adults here. We love it so much and there is not one other place in the world I could have imagined having our baby. Being a new mom here is a dream and the fact that I ended up meeting the most incredible friends ever was an immense bonus I had never expected. The conveniences of city living are something I will never take for granted and it’s because of that that we’re making the move to Charlestown. The alternative was moving to a smaller place in the North End, growing out of it, and ending up in the suburbs because we’d be priced out of Charlestown. Making this move now, before we’re ready to leave downtown, is only hard right now — this move allows us to stay city-folk for as long as we want! Having three bedrooms, parking, great schools, walkability to everything we could ever need, and even more families are all reasons we chose the neighborhood – but there are definite changes we need to adjust to (albeit all minor in the grande scheme of things).

These are the little things (and big) that I love so much about the North End. I’m not going to say I’ll miss these things because I’ll be able to do all of them…just in a little more time and some of it with more planning.

• Being so close to the water that there are seagulls out our windows all year long
• Being able to walk less than a block and reach a park, coffee shops, Neptune Oyster, hardware store, library and every other thing we’d ever need or walk
• Being able to walk 5-10 minutes and reach 4 more parks, BP and Gap, the BPM, CVS, more coffee!, and 819 restaurants
• Jordan being able to walk to work in 20 min
• Me being able to walk 10 minutes to the gym, which serves as my out of home office (don’t tell them!)
• Being walking distance to daycare for D
• Polcari’s coffee shop where we buy our beans in bulk
• Having to pay cash at 90% of the places here
• Spending our afternoons running into or impulsively meeting up with friends in 30 seconds flat
• Walking to the Marriott and having a cocktail while Delaney (and sometimes her friends) run around the lobby
• The Harborwalk
• The Mirabella pool and all of it’s glory
• Story time at the library when Delaney was a baby
• The community center where I first met my mom friends (and Delaney’s first friends)
• Being a stone’s throw from every T line – making my life so much easier! (THIS I will miss to much)
• Hanging out in the Greenway fountains and swinging benches with Delaney – throughout the day or meeting Jordan there after work is just the best
• Delaney walking through the streets and knowing which direction the parks are:) The cutest thing.
• Looking out the window with Delaney and talking about the seagulls, birds, cars, people, snow, rain, etc. Not the prettiest view (a parking lot:)) but I’ll miss it still.
• Our brick walls and the months and months of sitting on the family room and kitchen floors playing with the Delaney, dancing to music, practicing her first steps, racing back and forth, playing hide and seek in the curtains, scaring each other from behind every wall or curtain.
• Dare I say, sharing a room with Delaney? It’s all we’ve ever known and while it’s damn near killed us to share a room with a non-sleeping baby, I am going to have a hard time adjusting to not being able to hear her every move or see her right before we get in bed (I know, this is what monitors are for)
• The way we’ve ridiculously had to deal with our one bedroom – making no noise, taping the curtain to the wall so our bedroom is darker for her naps, never flushing toilets so we don’t wake her, the heart-racing feeling we get when she wakes up in the middle of the night and we have to play dead, and never taking a shower, doing dishes, doing laundry or watching TV at a normal volume.

Our life is so easy here and I’m terrified for the change. I know this is going to be our best adventure yet, but leaving this amazing place is so hard. We would live here forever if we could have more space, but it’s just not a possibility and I am so thankful that we were able to have all the time we did here. Delaney loves it here so much, too, and I hope she’s always a proud North End original.