So you’ve decided to go suburban

I grew up in a suburb. As a child, I had no complaints. Riding bikes around quiet cul-de-sacs until dinner time, fishing for tadpoles in nearby ditches, and showing up unannounced at friends’ nearby houses to play in their backyards – life was great!

As I got older, I yearned for more. The suburbs were no longer interesting enough. In adolescence, I began to see my city as an uncool, cultural wasteland. The much larger, more stimulating city just across the bridge became my North Star. It’s where I would spend my 20s and half of my 30s.

I didn’t need a big place. I had LOCATION. Funky bars, indie coffee shops, and quirky stores were my jam. Not too basic, not too status quo. Pretentious, but not too pretentious. The worst thing I could imagine was becoming uninteresting and basic – beige, as I would often say. I was an individual, dammit!

I eventually got married and absorbed my husband into my curated existence. Together in our small apartment, we enjoyed our fun city life.

Things changed in 2016: We had a kid.

Suddenly, our space didn’t seem big enough. As our curious little roommate began to crawl, every corner of our quaint apartment felt dangerous. Why did we have a telescope, anyway?? One yank and down it would tumble, surely crushing my poor, defenseless offspring.

 “We have to move,” I told my husband. “We need more space.”

So, where do you go when you’re trying to recreate a cheaper, more spacious version of the lifestyle you once enjoyed? Well, around here, you start as close as possible to your ideal location, then slowly move east as you’re priced out of your dreams.

You go to the ‘burbs.