It trickled in like rivulets. DC. Home. What ifs that pooled in the bottom of half-drunk glasses of wine while we’d talk late into the evening, my legs curled beneath me on the couch. Stray idylls in moments of parental fatigue — “can you imagine if we lived closer to our families? Saturday mornings, we could take them over to ride bikes with Doe or run around Liz and Jamie’s backyard with the cousins?”
Widening streams of escape, loudening whispers of promise. D.C. Home. The setting up of Redfin alerts — “just look at this house! Only three minutes from your parents’! Look how much more space you get for your money!” The long walks around Jackie O. Reservoir, spilling out dreams of a future with a backyard and a Weber kettle grill and childhood friends only a fifteen minute drive away. The vision of my father-in-law or brother-in-law dropping by with tools, supervising Mr. Magpie’s handiwork. Tricycles in a driveway; quaint, healthful-seeming chores of mowing the lawn and taking out the garbage for our growing children. Borrowing suitcases or folding chairs from my parents’ garage. Holidays simplified, travel-free. School pick-up, drop-offs at Little League or ballet — all with a car at our disposal. Backyard drinks with old friends who have known us since we were five or six ourselves. Would we consider joining my parents’ country club? What if mini eventually attended my beloved alma mater, Visitation?
Then it came in waves. Meeting my mother for walks and manicures and lunches. Fulfilling her dream of finally taking her granddaughter to the ballet at the Kennedy Center. Cousins growing up together, introducing one another to their little pods of school friends, attending camp and Sunday Mass and everything in between together. I shared some of these fantasies with a friend and she said, “You know, Jen? Life happens between the drumbeats. And I can see why you’d want those pauses with your family next to you.” Then, suddenly, the image of myself, standing uninvited but welcome at the foot of the stairs leading up to the cheerful room where my mother often sits at her desk: “Mom? Just dropping off the dish you lent.” The raiding of her fridge for an apple on the way out. Those willowy, trivial intimacies I have missed. Sitting with my sister on her front porch, barefoot and cooing over her newborn. “Can you pick up ice for the cooler on the way over?” she might ask. My father-in-law on the sidelines at soccer games, my mother-in-law sewing Halloween costumes. Blue crab on their patio, with cold drinks and cicadas and the thickness of D.C. in the summer. Close enough to be there for our parents if they ever need us. Close enough to have them when we need them — which is, frankly, always.
Breakers roared. D.C. Home.
So we did it —
Rearranged our lives, worked through the logistics, calculated timetables and leases and school deadlines, and now we are moving home to D.C. this summer and few decisions in my life have felt simpler, more correct.
It occurs to me that every other move in my life has felt fraught with peril. Each one a tightrope walk into the unknown, with new jobs or impossible timelines or foreign cities or absent networks. Just long, blind lunges into the new. Growth happens there, in those terrifying moments, to be sure.
But this: more of a clear-eyed glide into parts known, and for that I am awash with gratitude. A net beneath us. The sensation as a teenager turning off Connecticut Avenue onto Tilden Street just after I’d gotten my license: a relaxing of the shoulders, a feeling I was safe along that legible corridor where I knew every tree and curb and the cars likely to be parked on the street, and where the only two possible dangers were someone riding too close on my tail and not being prepared for the U-turn I’d need to make at Linnean Ave to curl back up the boulevard towards home, or an over-ambitious left hand turn by an aggressive driver off 29th Place. That is to say: I was still moving, still out there, but at a vastly diminished likelihood of threat. Home field advantage.
Is this what happens in your late 30s? Security begins to outweigh the thrill of the new, the possible? Perhaps, too, we have been re-conditioned by the responsibilities of our lives right now and it has all been amplified by the strain of COVID and the absence of family over the past year and a quarter. And then there is the aging of our parents, the birth of another baby to my sister in a couple of weeks: the pull of family, our hunger for their help. Also on my mind: the age of our children and the mounting desire for more space, less complicated logistics, extra hands. As an example, we had been dancing around how we might get both of our children down to the school that we have loved so much for mini on the subway next fall. One child, when the school was en route to Mr. Magpie’s office downtown (pre-COVID), was perfectly fine. One child, when we had to go out of our way to take her downtown while both of us have been WFH during COVID, has been less than ideal but doable. Two children — especially when one will be in a stroller and Mr. Magpie will still be WFH — looms indomitable. We had explored buying a car for the purpose, but even then: double-parking on a busy street twice a day, running the risk of tickets, maneuvering around parking garages, the unpredictability of traffic especially in inclement weather, the added headache, the cost! (There is a joke that having a parking spot in Manhattan is like taking on a second lease.) No, no, we’re being crazy, we told ourselves. We should move them up to a school closer to our apartment. Then: But we love that school! Mini is thriving there! And it has a great track record with exmissions! And there are no AMI-certified Montessoris in walking distance! And wouldn’t it be weird to move mini for the final year of her Montessori program, especially if we are staying in NY long-term and such decisions do matter when thinking about where she will go to grade school? Do we move back downtown?
Of course, logistics around school, work, and childcare with small children are complicated no matter where you live, but they were growing ultra-knotty for our tastes, and it seemed that most of the solutions were expensive or inconvenient or undesirable, like ceding multiple hours of my day in transit between drop-offs and pick-ups, or paying for a nanny to help with logistics in addition to private school enrollment for two children, or sending them to a non-Montessori, or keeping mini at her school and sending micro to a different school, or moving again.
I have always admired the New York families that raise their children here, but now more than ever — what determination, accommodation, and expense it requires. And what an experience for the children!
So make no mistake about it: we are not leaving on bad terms with New York. I will forever remain grateful for my time here. ILNY. It is dazzling, unknowable, too big for words, still a shock, the most exciting place I will ever have lived. And it is where my boy was conceived and born. Where mini came into her own as a little human with a big personality. Where I settled into myself as an adult — where I owned my interest in writing, where this blog took off, where I came to terms with the shuttering of a previous business, where I began the slow process of reconciling my outsized visions of myself with the reality of the world. It has been kind and unkind to us, but mainly kind. In a strange way, in spite of the challenge of living here during this pandemic, our New York years have been the gentlest of our lives as a married couple: this is where we found a stasis, a rhythm, felt as though we flipped from waiting for the next thing to happen to sitting in the next thing, in wonderment and disbelief. “We live in New York?” we still ask each other. “We have two children?!”
I am proud we made a life here. It is true, I think, what they say: If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. (Even more true, I might suggest, if you make it in NYC during a pandemic.) New York has been an education. We are three and a half years into a city that is exhausting and electric and disgusting and wonderful and where there have been, on balance, far more moments of magic than of malaise. There are mornings where I run through Central Park and feel positively filled with joy. There are moments of snowfall and daybreak and low-lying fog and autumn chill and summer haze where I look out on the city, or traipse down my favorite tree-lined street on the Upper West Side, and I am awash with wonder. What a phenomenal place to live. It presents a breath-taking, movie-set backdrop to everyday life. And everything is accessible, deliverable, only a 15-minute ride away by Subway. The entire world at our fingertips. Interesting people and exciting food and diverse perspectives and provocative culture and — for better or worse — it’s rare I leave the apartment without seeing something worth sharing with Mr. Magpie upon return.
“New York always makes it up to you,” our friends told us when we first moved in, as we shook off a traumatic move to the city. “She’ll come through.” That has proven true. For every strange encounter on the street and icky dripping of mysterious subway juice onto your head (this happens, just ask any New Yorker) there have been life-affirming moments with neighbors and strangers alike. It is equally true, though, that this past year has been rough given COVID constraints and the interminable stretches of weeks spent largely at home in our apartment with two small and active children. I will never forget calling my Dad while still symptomatic with COVID-19 and somehow trying to look after two children without leaving our apartment going on 16 or 17 days, all while we knew so little about the virus but could measure its mounting severity by the number of ambulances we heard careening down the street every other minute and the growing desertion of tenants in our building.
“This is hard,” I told him through sudden tears. It felt like the understatement of a lifetime.
When we first spoke with one of the agents who might be helping us buy a home in D.C., she concluded the call by saying:
“Two children, a dog, a Manhattan apartment, two full-time, work-from-home jobs, during COVID? You must be good people.”
I don’t know if it made us good people, but I feel tougher on this side of things.
I just laughed: “We made it somehow.”
After we hung up, I realized how true that rang. We made it somehow. Not just through a bumpy stretch in NYC, but four stressful moves in under nine years; the building of new lives in two enormous, foreign-to-us metropolises; several major career changes; the births of two children; the purchase and sale of a home; the founding and shuttering of one business and the nurturing of a second–and all while a good distance from our parents and all while knowing in some subconscious sense that we eventually imagined ourselves back in D.C. and therefore never felt truly settled. But God is good. What a ride this has been. So there is another sense of the phrase that emerges: we made it somehow — meaning, we built those opportunities and forged those decisions and invited ourselves to the incredible experiences the past ten years have held. We made our way to that feast. And now homeward we go.
We made it.
Post-Scripts.
+A small corner of New York that I will always treasure.
+What it was like living in NYC during the peak of the pandemic here.
+On making it through that rough patch in NY.
+I am sure this move will have its share of strange emotions but, as of now, it is mainly marked by a sense of purpose and peace. Still, interesting to read my thoughts on our intercity move here. It is always chaotic to move!
+We have so much to figure out ahead of us, but, knowing that we will be buying a car again (soon), I already know I want to buy Clek carseats.
+This Sezane sweater is perfection.
+My favorite unfussy sippy cups for little ones in great spring colors.
+Sweet cardigan for a little lady ($22).
+This houndstooth sweater is so fun. I stocked up on cardigans along these lines while nursing — perfect to throw over a nursing tank.
+TBBC has just the cutest jammies right now. And so sad I missed out on their darling Polly Play dress in the classic bow pattern in mini’s size!
+I ended up buying this birthday dress for mini to wear to school on her actual birthday, and I have a separate Sal e Pimenta one for her to wear to her little birthday playdate the following morning. Too cute!
+I just can’t say no to a long white dress.
+If you are in the market for a dress for any occasion, I think I have you covered here and here.
+Cute everyday dresses for your little one on sale for $21 here, here, and here.
+Your toddler boy’s summer wardrobe.
+Love this fitness pullover in both the white and moody blue colors!
+Funky little sweatshirt for your little man for $15. More statement sweatshirts for little ones here.
Loved this post and feel the urge to leave my first comment after being a long time reader. We made a similar move in August of 2020, leaving DC (where my husband and I had been for 10 years) to move back home to GA. It was bittersweet but I have not regretted it as it has been such a gift to welcome our son in November 2020 around family (as much as COVID would allow). We will still visit DC often for work once things reopen a bit so that helps to lessen our sadness in leaving. I don’t think we would have made the move had it not been for the pandemic removing all of the distractions of daily life in DC and reminding us of the importance of family above all else. We now live in the same neighborhood as my parents and are making up for the decade we spent apart. As you wrote above, the small gestures of popping over to say hi while out on a walk or my mom bringing snacks over to our house and playing with the baby are so welcome and heartwarming after being relatively on our own in regards to proximity to family for so long. So excited for you!
Hi Sarah! So moved that this post encouraged you to jump into the comments. Welcome, friend! (And thank you for your longtime readership.) I so love your note about the “small gestures.” Cannot wait for those! I have a feeling I’ll never take them for granted now that we’ve gone without for so long. That’s also a great reminder about the ability to visit DC (or NYC, for us) as a way to lessen the sting of leaving — we still have family and close friends up here in NYC, and Landon’s job’s HQs are still here, so visiting will not be uncommon or difficult (only 3h by Acela).
Thank you for your encouragement, friend!
xx
Add me to the list of people who are so excited and happy for you! My husband and I would desperately love to live near either set of our parents but unfortunately our jobs simply wouldn’t work in any other area. We settled for buying a house in the Chicago ‘burbs so we can a least have a yard and be near our country club. Congratulations and good luck on your move!
Thank you so much, Laura! I know it can be so difficult to live away from family but it sounds like you’ve managed to find a way to build a comfortable home with a lot of breathing space (and extra room for visitors!).
xx
Congrats, Jen! I can’t wait to read all the upcoming decor related posts! Hope all goes as smoothly as possible.
Thank you so much, JC! I so appreciate the good vibes you are sending my way! xoxo
Jen, I’m so happy for you! I’ll miss hearing your NYC perspective, but this sounds like a truly perfect decision for your family. Congratulations!! xo
Thank you so much, Courtney! I appreciate the well wishes more than you know. Hopefully will clock some extra posts on NYC before I leave 🙂
xx
Congrats to you and your family, Jen! I’ll miss reading your musings on New York but I can’t wait to follow along as you chronicle this new chapter!
Thank you so much, Susie!! I am sure we will somehow still cross paths — it feels inevitable for the two of us! :)a
xx
What a beautifully written post. Best of luck with your move and transition back home.
My husband and I are currently in NJ and have owned four homes in four states. Our boys are in college and my hubby recently retired. Sold our house very fast this summer and had to rent locally when the boys were not allowed back on campus. Trying to figure out where we want to be but most likely we will go back to Texas
where we met.
Your children will benefit so much by being close to all of their family.
While I have enjoyed all of our moves going back home at this point in our lives will be bittersweet. We lost my Dad five and a half years ago and my Mom is very ill. It will be strange beyond words to live there without them.
I very much enjoy your blog and look forward to seeing DC posts because I worked there during the 80s when I was in my twenties. Oh, one of my boys is at your alma mater.
Hi Melissa – Thank you so much for sharing your experience so vulnerably. I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your father as well as your mother’s current illness — I am sure that it will be highly emotional to move back in that context. Will be sending you good vibes if/when you make the move.
It was so encouraging to hear you say how much my children will benefit from being close to their grandparents and cousins!! Thank you!
And wahoowa to your boy!!
xx
ohhh this made me cry! So beautiful, Jen. I’m so happy for you, and cannot wait to hear all about your new adventures!! xoxo
Thank you so much, Jessica! 🙂 I feel so loved today!!! 🙂
Wishing you all the best, and hope this summer and fall are just how you imagine it. Would love to catch up sometime, happy to help if there’s anything I can do.
Thank you so much, Angelyn!! You are so sweet. Thank you for cheering us on!!
xx
Congratulations! Sounds like the perfect fit for your family. Wishing you all the best! Also, looking forward to some home decor inspiration posts 🙂
Oh YES, Annie! I am already salivating over all the options. Ha! :). Expect a lot more on home decor and things like backyard furniture, outdoor gear, etc. Whole new worlds for us Manhattanites!
Thank you also for the encouragement! 🙂
xxx
Thank you for your beautiful words. They made me cry. We have been in New York for over a decade (does that make us New Yorkers?!) and we are madly in love with this city. We also have a 3-year-old daughter and an infant son who can forever list “New York, NY” as their place of birth. And yet. I know our days are numbered. We are most likely going to be moving to where my husband grew up, with my beloved parents likely joining us in the journey south. (How lucky am I to have parents willing to uproot their lives for us?) We probably still have a year or two of New York left in us, but oh the tugs and pulls you describe ring so true. I feel a pit in my stomach at the thought of leaving this city that has become home, but the siren call of a real house (!) and putting down roots is getting louder and louder. (And as a side note, I sometimes feel “cheated” that the last year (and likely the next year) have robbed us of so many of the quintessential NYC experiences I wanted for my children. While we are fortunate beyond belief, I sometimes feel sad to be spending our limited city days cooped up in an apartment. Praying there are brighter days ahead!)
Well, that was cathartic to write out. Thank you. <3
Hi Allison – Oh, we are so on the same page! Landon and I have said similar things about feeling “cheated” for what will end up being 1/4th of our time in this city. I look back at pictures of mini in NYC when she was just a year old and think how little micro has been able to enjoy of it. And I think we are entitled to grieve those moments we have missed out on. I so hear you. And I don’t think any of us are yet at a point where we can say: “Oh but look at all we gained during that time — togetherness!” It still feels a little too soon for me at least…
Still, I am choosing to now focus on the positive. Mini and micro will always have the experience of living here while small. We’ll be able to tell them the stories of mini taking the subway to school and feeding the sheep at Tisch zoo and running through splash pads, and micro toddling down Central Park West in his first snowstorm, a tiny little man in a huge city blanketed in snow (will never forget the profile he cut) and crawling through the grass on the Great Lawn all summer long. Only now they will ALSO have so many memories with their grandparents and cousins around, woven into the fabric of their daily life — things they might have missed out on had we stayed here. Trying to be grateful that we’ll be able to taste it all.
Anyway, when/if you get to the point you are ready to move, I’ll be holding your (virtual) hand just a few steps ahead. In the meantime, good on you for sticking it out and soaking up this amazing city!!!
xx
So happy for you, Jen! Living far from family, I feel this post hard. Beautifully written!
Thank you so much, Em!! xx
Congratulations, Jen!
Like Meredith, we also moved home (well, to my home) during the pandemic — it accelerated the hemming and hawing that had begun after the birth of our second child. For most of my 15 years in the city, so much of my time was my own, and they were wonderful, wild, roving years. Experiencing it as a parent of one could be equally wonderful, but with two, it felt like our days had the barest of give. The logistics! The unavoidably staggering cost of childcare! The de rigueur 60 hour work weeks!
The biggest change by far for our family since moving has been the new give in our lives, the literal breathing room. I’m not sure how much is a byproduct of the pandemic (and it DOES feel very discomfiting to have this very shiny silver lining during a time of vast suffering), and how much is having family close by but! It feels so good to breathe. I hope you and yours find the same!
Hi Claire – Yes to all of this, and I love how you worded it — “the barest of give.” Logistics can consume large swathes of the day. Even now I have been sitting here, loving and responding to all these comments, and in the back of my head, I have also been wondering how we’ll schlep the birthday gear for mini’s tiny (two-guest!) birthday celebration to the park this weekend. Like, asking whether I need one of those cupcake transporters you buy at Container Store? And whether I should empty a big bin from our closet to carry the jumpropes, kickballs, etc? SO silly but always lots to contend with that will simply be absent in D.C.
Anyway – thanks for writing this. Looking forward to the breathing room!
xx
Ahhhhh!!!! SO HAPPY FOR YOUR FAMILY!!!!! Congratulations on making it, Jen!!! “The Shoops are back!”
YES!! You remember are little slogan!!! SHOOPS ARE BACK, BABY! 🙂
Thank you!
xx
Oh Jen!!! I am so thrilled for you! What an incredible gift to be close to both sets of parents and the rest of your family!
All those little scenes you wrote about — those easy/spontaneous encounters with family members that happen when you live close to them — spoke to me so much. As an immigrant I have been away from my family and each time I visit there’s just this immense sense of relief that is palpable as soon as I arrive.
Wishing you all the best for your move! I find that moving is stressful whether it’s across the street or cross-country or anything in between, but what waits for you on the other side will be so, so wonderful. Excited for you!
Hi Mia! Thank you SO much! I feel so beyond excited. “Palpable relief” is exactly the right phrase.
Moving is crazy and I’m not super jazzed about the stress that will ensue but I do have to say that having gone through two very stressful, quick moves in the last four years, I feel better equipped for this than I was just a few short years ago. I already have found myself in self-coaching mode: “Jen, one thing at a time. Prioritize. And trust that you will get it all done.” Somehow, we always do! This go around, too, I am SO relieved that we have our parents and many friends at the receiving end of the move. One issue we had when we moved to NYC was that we literally had no where to go when things went haywire (really bad agent situation). I felt so lost and adrift! This time, we have multiple homes to shelter in and lots of hands to help with little details like dropping off keys or welcoming movers or whatever it might be. PHEW.
xx
Jen,
YAY! I’m so very happy for you, and I know you’re excited to be settled. A Washington childhood is a gem–I can’t wait for Mini and Micro to experience it too.
As a military brat, my experience was summers only for decades, visiting family in NW. Now, as an adult, I still visit my grandparents there, and my shoulders just… relax!
I hope when all this craziness is over you can host a meetup!
Best of luck in the move and enjoy NY while you have her 🙂
xx, V.
Thank you SO much! YES! You just made me so excited about the prospect of a D.C. childhood for my children. I feel so lucky to have grown up there and am so thrilled my children will have the same opportunity! Woohoo!!
Thank you for the encouragement!
xx
Adding one more voice cheering you on – and welcome back to DC! Shameless (and selfish) plug to consider the Capitol Hill neighborhood. I know you’re a NW-loyal, but we bought a rowhome on Capitol Hill a few years back and it’s the most warm, welcoming, mini enclave of the city. I’m a transplant (although, going on 8 years in the DMV region), and it’s a place that feels home already/forever. Lots of communal little one way streets (many that shut down for a day or two to host block parties in the summer, so charming!) and TONS of young families everywhere. Plus, great farmer’s markets, churches, small parks galore, parochial schools, and a central location that’s walkable to everything you could ever want.
Can’t wait to continue following along!
Yay! Thank you so much, Erica!! Your neighborhood is absolutely lovely. I have a few friends in that neck of the woods who are similarly effusive! We aren’t ruling anything out — will see where we end up!
xx
Hurray for you and your family! But also hurray for all us readers who will hopefully be treated to you sharing your beautiful decor finds as you decorate your new home!
Yay!! I cannot wait to share! It’s going to be SO fun. A lot more to come…
Thank you for the well wishes!
xx
OMG–big news!! Selfishly, can I just say that I cannot WAIT for the DC-inspired writing that is to come.
I will never forget reading your homage to the “wild” of DC a few months after moving there myself, my fresh postgrad self feeling very wobbly while I navigated my first corporate job, dating, and generally trying to be a functioning woman in a city. There were many hard days that ended in tearful calls to my mom, and walks around Cleveland Park were often a consolation prize, during which I sorted out my thoughts and, in the background, started to love my new home.
When I read your piece, I felt pleasantly surprised by how much it resonated with me, and then a sense of pride for connecting to writing about the place where I lived. It made me conscious of my growing sense of belonging, which felt like a little victory in itself–having a connection of my own to a new city made (and still makes!) me feel very grown up. 🙂
Best of luck, Jen, and count me in for post-COVID Magpie meetups!
Oh Hayden – thank you so much for this note. I am so touched that my piece on D.C. resonated so deeply with you and helped engrain you in (endear you to?) your new home. That truly moves me. (As an aside, have we already talked about the fact that I grew up between Cleveland Park and Van ness? I immediately imagined you walking down shaded, quiet Macomb St towards Vace (love getting a slice of pizza from there). There are stretches along Macomb and then right by the zoo where it feels like there is absolutely no way you could be in a major metropolis. It is forest! Overgrown, unkempt foliage everywhere! Sidewalks are cracked but in a pleasant kind of way? Ugh, I’m getting nostalgic just thinking about it. Thanks for taking me there.
Anyway, thank you, friend, for the encouragement and support!
xx
My breath caught as I read your exciting news. D.C. is not MY home, but it was A home to me for my newlywed years 2012-2016. We’re now back in the Midwest closer to our family and with a little one. I haven’t regretted the decision for one minute. So happy for you!
Thank you so much, Brittany!! I am so encouraged by all these messages sharing how great a decision it’s been being closer to parents. Yay!!! xxx
Wonderful news! This move just seems right for you. There are many beautiful memories to be made in your new home and with your family. I’m happy for you!
Aw, thank you so much Lauren! I agree. It just feels right in my bones. Cannot wait for a house and a yard!!! Thanks for sharing in my joy! xx
Congratulations!! Such an exciting time for your family and I bet the grandparents can’t wait!
Oh yes!!! There were four very happy grandparents :). Thank you, Amy!
xx
We moved quite a bit when the children were younger from East Coast to West Coast and back again with a few stops in between. I have a feeling you will be so happy to be near family that all other concerns will just melt away. Very happy for you and your family.
Thank you so very much, Nannette. This message is so encouraging. I have loved hearing from you and others who eventually settled in closer to family and never looked back.
xx
Congratulations!!! Truly sounds like such a good choice for you and your family. Wishing you the smoothest move possible!
My husband and I have moved from DC to Manhattan and then back to Northern Virginia over the past 5 years, so much of what you shared resonates with me. I still love NY so much, but this feels like our home for the long haul. 🙂 Seems like you are in the same boat. As others have shared, can’t wait to hear more about your future DC recommendations/experiences!
Thank you so much, Megan! I so appreciate the encouragement and well wishes and especially the idea that you’ve been in my shoes and haven’t regretted the decision :). Onward, homeward!!!
xx
This is so beautifully put! You perfectly captured the process of making this huge decision…I could feel the idea move from a trickle to a cascade. It seems perfect for you, although bittersweet I’m sure. So nice to have several months to mindfully enjoy the city before you leave…while working out all the logistics of course, ha. Speaking from experience, it is SO NICE to be close to my parents! And travel-free holidays cannot be beat. This move sounds so great for you ALL.
Thank you SO much, Stephanie! Yes, a trickle to a cascade is right, and there are so many amazing aspects to the timing, as you mention — our lease doesn’t end until fall up here, so we have time to do everything mindfully, carefully, at (more or less) our own pace. I feel so lucky that this move isn’t one of those “fly by midnight” experiences: drop in and desperately hunt for a home in under a few days, then move everything at breakneck speed, which has been the experience of our past few moves. Feeling so lucky on all fronts.
xx
Oh my goodness, congratulations! And another resounding “yes” for a DC magpie meetup! I can only hope that my children will want to be close like that someday. Welcome home!
And an addendum…I remember commenting on a post of yours about Vicky’s Nail Salon. Still there, went yesterday, still as charming as ever!
Vicky!!!! YES!
Thank you so much, Kristin!!! 🙂
Congratulations! This is such wonderful news. Sending you all of the good vibes for the move and feeling so excited for you! xo
Thank you so much, Christina!!! 🙂
Congrats congrats congrats!!!! Another vote for a D.C. Magpie meet up!! Wishing your family all the best in this new chapter and can’t wait to follow along!
Thank you so much, M!! Feeling so much love and excitement today! Woohoo!
xx
Congratulations Jen! I will soon be one of your neighbors (Baltimore – it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump away!), so I am excited to read about your DC adventures. And I have to admit to driving my Airedales down to DC for grooming – Masterpiece Canine Spa is wonderful and one of the few places in the area that offers handstripping for terriers!
!! Hi neighbor! Thanks for the tip on the groomer!! Great to have first hand referrals like that. Thank you so much for the encouragement!
xx
Congratulations!!!! I have been “back home” for two weeks now, in the Pittsburgh area, after ~10 years away post college, three in NYC.
It is difficult to express the relief that comes with saying: “Hey mom, can you come watch my son during my midwife appointment?” And then having her show up with fresh-baked banana bread.
Parenting is such an independent project in this country—I think much of this stems from lack of societal support structures in place for parents— but being near my parents as I ready for our second child after so many years of my husband and I living “on our own” has made me finally feel that a “village” for child raising could be possible and even easy, rather than an expensive, logistical nightmare. Ha!
All that to say: YAY!!!! Wishing you the smoothest move possible. xo.
Oh gosh, this made me feel so happy — and relieved for you! It was a source of nontrivial amounts of anxiety trying to make sure my mom would be with me during the births of both of my children. I *needed* here there. I’m so glad you’ll be close to yours with the upcoming birth of your second! And the banana bread is a lovely bonus, too 🙂
Yay!! All around!
I can only imagine the excitement of living in NYC, the fear comes a lot easier. DC, really big and exciting for me. I turn off the big road onto the gravel road to get to the dirt road that leads to my driveway. I live in the country! I live close to family, lots of family. Last night as I was driving to my son and daughter-in-laws my son called as asked me to stop in town and pick up a pizza for our supper. Friday I had the privilege of baby sitting my great granddaughter. Move to DC, don’t steal any more memories from your children and your family! You’ve made it, now enjoy both worlds. Live at “home” visit the city.
Thank you, Sandra! Feeling lucky to have been able to enjoy these different experiences and so excited to be closer to our parents now for this next stage of life.
xx
On my goodness! This is so exciting. What can be better than to return to your hometown with your family and be instantly surrounded by loved ones? Nothing! Go boldly my dear!
Thank you, Cynthia! I agree – this feels so good. Going boldly!!!
Congratulations on the move and welcome back to DC! Can’t wait to follow along with your continued adventures.
Thank you, Sofia!! I appreciate all these messages of encouragement more than you know!
xx
I’m just thrilled for you! Congratulations on a perfect decision!
Thank you so much, Emmy! 🙂 It does feel so right.
We did the same thing in the pandemic. Moved “home,” from NY and the simplicity, the help the support, it is all you imagine it will be. Best wishes for you and yours.
Ooh how encouraging to hear this from the other side — thank you, Meredith! xoxo
Congratulations- what an exciting move for you and your family! As a DC resident I look forward to reading about your local recommendations.
Hi Cristina! Thank you so much!! Yay! I can’t wait to discover some of the newer spots in the city and revisit favorite old haunts, too. 🙂
xx
Wow – yet again, you are able to put it all in words. I also share an ever there thought that one day we will move back home and you just so perfectly summarized all of the tiny intimacies that would make it worthwhile. Cheers to you all wrapping up this season. I can’t wait to hear how this next one opens up.
Oh, Amy – thank you so much for this generous response! I hope you get to your “ever there” one day, too. Thanks for reading along and for sharing such sweet encouragement here.
xx
Congratulations! Praying the move is everything you need and want it to be. I must confess I will miss your NY anecdotes – my dear friend lived on the UES for 12 years and I spent MANY long weekends with her exploring and enjoying the city. It remains one of my favorite places EVER but I haven’t been able to visit in a few years. Your tales and musings were just the scratch my itch to return needed! That being said, I lived and worked in DC for two years after college and IT remains one my favorite places I’ve ever lived. I’ll look forward to your tales and musings from there as well.
Your peace regarding the decision is all you need — everything else will fall into place. 🙂 xo H
Thank you, Heidi! Yes – this entire decision has been marked by a sense of calm, rightness, peace. It feels good.
I will also miss NYC! I know I will look back on my time here with so much fondness and a little bit of disbelief. Even today as I was heading back uptown after dropping off Emory, I just thought — “wow. Wow! It is absolutely amazing to live here.” Very grateful for it and will of course be drinking it up in big gulps until we leave.
xx
My heart swells for you and your family! What great news. I hope the transition goes well and your daydreams become reality. Your DC-inspired writing is some of my favorite (I left the area four years ago after a Maryland childhood and ten years in DC as a young professional; reading it simply transports me.)
Hi Meghan! Thank you so much — ahh! These generous and encouraging notes from you and my other Magpies are absolutely lifting me today. Thank you so much.
Looking forward to getting back to DC — fertile writing ground for me.
xx
I am so happy for you and your family! I smiled ear to ear reading this xx
Thank you SO much Katherine! Wow. Thank you x a million. You know that German word “schadenfreude”? (Pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune.) I need the antonym for that word to describe the incredible kindness and generosity of spirit you all are expressing — total joy and support for me in such a happy decision! WOW! So humbled.
xx
I think, perhaps, that is love? Total joy and support, especially for the happy decisions 🙂 It is doubly-delightful to see all the love for you and your family in these comments today too!
🙂 Now I am grinning ear to ear!! Thank you :). I feel like a million bucks today.
xx
Congrats Jen!!! So happy for you!
As a fellow DC native who also left for college, lived in NYC and then moved back, I honestly think DC is the best place to raise little ones (not sure if you have a decided on a neighborhood, but we are in Kent/Palisades and it is PERFECT for kids. So many fun young families and so walkable!) It’s also so nice that DC has evolved into a more glamorous and cosmopolitan city, but that so much of the old DC from growing up here remains the same.
I know you have tons of family and friends here, but please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions on schools, nannies, play groups etc. as my two boys are the exact same ages as Mini and Micro!
Xoxo!
Hi Katie! This is so generous – thank you so much! My parents live in Spring Valley / Kent area and we are looking there and a few other neighborhoods, so I just might have to take you up on the offer for suggestions and the like! We could be neighbors! Ha! Thanks again, friend! xx
Waiting for you, with tears in my eyes, a smile on my face, and open arms to hug you!
Love you Mom 🙂 Can’t wait for that manicure.
xx
Absolutely wonderful news, congratulations! I look forward to following the adventure!
Thank you so much, Bente!! :). So appreciate your encouragement!!!
xx
Congratulations!!! I am so happy for you and your family 🙂
Gosh, thank you so much, Molly! I always feel such warmth and support from you. So lucky to have my Magpies cheering me on!
xx
Reading this makes me sigh in relief and happiness for you! Sometimes I think that I subscribe to this belief that for life to be interesting and adventurous, it has to be HARD. But the truth is, life is interesting and adventurous and hard even when we arrange our lives to simplify and prioritize our deepest wants and needs. This move to DC sounds so exactly right for you for all the right reasons. Looking forward to reading more about those adventures!
Hi Brooke – Thank you so much. A sigh of relief is right 🙂 I agree with you on the often unarticulated sense that for life to be “interesting and adventurous, it has to be hard.” I am ready to take a big deep breath with things hanging a bit easier and looser. Thank you, friend 🙂
xx
Welcome back (soon) to DC! So happy for you that you’ll be making this move closer to your family! And hoping you maybe plan a couple mini/micro magpie play dates?! We moved to Montgomery County last fall!
Thank you so much, Jen! Yay!! Playdates sounds incredible!
xx
Oh wow! Congrats – both on your wonderful adventures in NY and your future ones in DC.
And as a fellow DC area resident (the VA side), can’t wait to follow along….though we’re also embarking on our own adventure and moving to the UK this summer for a few years .
Hi Jenn! Wow – UK! What an adventure! What’s bringing you there?
Thank you for your encouragement. Cannot wait to share more.
xx
Such exciting news! After spending the last year back in DC, I completely understand! I can’t wait to follow along with your new adventures 🙂 You will be missed! Congratulations!
Thank you, Katelyn! Maybe we’ll cross paths for a few months in the summertime in DC!
xx
So happy for you. I can feel your relief through your words. There is such magic in making a decision that feels so right.
Selfishly, I am excited to read along as a fellow DMV resident! Your DC recommendations have always been great (Black Salt!) and I look forward to more.
Hi Kate – Thank you! I re-read my post after reading your comment and also felt the relief just flood through me. This feels so right and so peace-filled.
Yay on D.C. recs — so fun to have all my D.C. Magpies coming out of the woodwork on this post to cheerlead me home :). Will definitely be sharing alllll the things!
xx
Oh, Jen. This is so beautiful. DC feels like it was meant to be for you and your family. You sound so happy and at peace. Sending you all much love! x
Thank you, Maura! (And how are you, friend!?). It really does feel like it was meant to be — peace is the name of the game here. Thank you as always for your support!!
xx
So happy for you. Cheers Jen.
Thank you so much, Mary!!! You are so sweet to take the time to leave this kind note. xx