People & Things We Will Miss

When you get ready to move across country, get ready for a culture shock. I had one when I first moved here from San Diego seven years ago. People talk to you here. They wave you on in an intersection to go first. People here love children. When they see how many kids I have following me around--or chasing after--they always say, "God BLESS you!"

There are lifers here. People who were born and raised in the same house, live their whole life and then die there. When I first moved here, a person commented, "Yeah, I finally moved out of my home that I was raised in..." I asked him where he moved from. "Derby," he said. FYI people--that was only one mile away!

And everyone knows you or your relatives, knows your whole story one way or another. People still go to church here, have town parades and carnivals. You end in somebody's home movie at sometime or another... I got reports from a few that they saw us in the Memorial Day Parade and filmed Sean running with the jogger stroller with a kid in it to catch up to the family after a refreshment break. I remember it too, he was all smiles running full speed down the hill with cold drinks for us all. Now everyone's got a copy.

Our neighbors down the street, the Burns, a retired couple who keep their yard immaculate. The wife was raised in that house and now is well retired. They have watched us transform our house, walk our kids to the bus stop every morning and back home again at 3:40pm. Mr. Burnes had so much charm and his wife so much class. I will miss them.

There's a boy named Jordan who lives at the end of the street and is alone most of the time, overweight and lonely. He would drop by here to see if the kids could play and ask me for bandaids--he liked my motherly attention. I will worry about him and hope he does well in life.

Our kids will miss the Gavins across the street with three girls in elementary school. All could do cartwheels across their lawn and would always yell hello. A circumstance of allergies kept ours and their children from playing very much. They had three dogs and we had strawberries in the backyard.

Albertos Pizza, a small family joint, kept us fed the first two years we lived here and didn't have a kitchen. Lilly was our favorite waitress who wore blue contacts although her eyes were dark brown. She was always looking for a husband and finally landed one in her home country and then brought him to the states. Now married with one boy and another on the way, my how life brings love and responsibility.

We will certainly miss Riley's best friend Joseph, who is hands down the sweetest boy and friend to us all. We wish we could take him with us! He's going to grow to be a fine man someday.

Our cousins, the DiMauros, who also have a big family--we didn't get to see each other very much due to such crazy schedules, but I'll sure miss Diane. She has a great monotone groan when her kids drive her crazy. She makes me feel more normal and helps me deal with the punches of motherhood.

I'll miss my evil friend in real estate, Annie. She's a beautiful version of Lisa Marie Presley, but makes so many faces (goes cross-eyed, etc) when she is expressing her stress level. She and I would crack each other up by imitating our clients, parents and spouses. She has been my biggest Larkin fan and always made me feel ten feet tall.

And of course, I'll miss springtime here in CT. The constant blossoms of various shrubs and trees, the gorgeous cherry trees of every kind and the petals blowing into the lawn... soft, elegant and quiet.

I'll miss Halloween where everyone puts on their best costume and walks down Wakelee Avenue. Children and parents, adults of all ages, all putting out their best displays of fright, fog, and monsters running around... music jamming and people dancing. What a site.

And lastly, at Christmas time, the firehouse runs Santa Claus all over town. Down every street you can hear the sirens and finally here they come down our street. Throwing candy popcorn balls and bellowing, "Ho Ho Ho!" All the kids come running from every house in their pajamas with snowboots waving and picking up the treats.

It has been a great experience and I am glad for it. It is going to be hard to drive away.