Mommy Diaries: Is there Suburbia Splendor?

The girls hit the road this weekend to visit with Mimi and Pop-pop. We were packed in the car, DVD's, CD's, coloring books and snacks galore. My mom and stepdad live in a suburb of Dallas where I grew up. It is one of those idyllic places with perfectly manicured lawns, people and places. Everything is perfect and planned and that's the exact reason we hated it growing up.

My sister and I have always sneered at the thought of ever going back to our seemingly perfect hometown to live. But, we both found ourselves talking about how nice it would be to live in the perfect suburb. Everything in the town seems set up for children. The neighborhoods have wide streets, sidewalks, parks, libraries and you can be walking distance from a grocery store or other restaurants if you choose. The shopping is heavenly and even the malls have lots of kid activities to keep little ones happy.

As Lillie gets older and I find all those conveniences, well just darn more convenient and helpful, I start to have different feelings about a place in which I felt I would never return. Julia and I both thought, how easy would it be to live in a place like this. But, as those feelings start to emerge, I wonder, have I started down the slippery slope of becoming not cool? Could I trade in my young, hip, music-loving town for the big city burbs?

Children change the way you look at life in so many ways. From the moment your little pea comes home from the hospital, you are truly living your life for someone else completely. But, who is doing right? The perfect families in perfect suburbia or the young ones living in up and coming neighborhoods in remodeled 1940's houses?

I don't have the answer yet. I just hope Sarah starts to tell me when my Joe's jeans start being traded for tapered leg mom pants.