Day 5. City Girl

Every Friday morning, I drive Carson into the city to meet his running coach for one hour of training.   They train right along the Pacific Ocean on a new pedestrian walkway/bike path/ green space. This week Camilla asked to come along and bring her roller blades which sounded like a great plan to me.

This morning the traffic was relatively light, and we got downtown with no problems.  The total lack of travel stress was the perfect beginning to the morning.

We found Carson's coach and sent the two of them off to run.  Camilla strapped on her roller blades, and she and I began the most relaxing hour I've had in too long.  The breeze off the ocean was awesome and the sky was bright blue.  It really was the perfect day for some exercise and Mommy/Milla time.

As I walked and she skated, I couldn't help but ponder about this season of life I'm in. 

Stay-at-home mom.  Home school mom.  Soccer mom.  Basketball mom.  Running mom.  Dancer mom.  Businessman's wife.  Holy Spirit fanatic.  Friend.  

I'm so thankful for each of those opportunities.  

I watched Camilla skate.  She looked like an ad for a tourism brochure.  Blonde curls blowing in the wind with the ocean behind her.  I could feel myself being renewed.  The city noise in the background sounds to me like an orchestra.  The cars whizzing by.  The voices of the throngs of people moving about their days.  

And, it hit me.  I'm a city girl.  Those people who talk about the energy of the city?  I'm one of them.

How did that happen?  When did it happen?

I grew up in a small town in central Illinois.  Our house was at the end of a subdivision and next door was a cornfield.  Nothing about my life was "city."  I remember visiting St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Chicago.  Our little town in Illinois was pretty much in the middle of the three.  St. Louis I loved because my father is from there.  It didn't feel like a big city.  It was just the place we went.  Even then, though, the "city" aspects of it made me anxious when I was a little girl.  

I remember a man, outside Busch stadium, sitting on curb playing his saxophone.  You were supposed to put money in his open saxophone case.  I remember my Dad giving me money to give to the man.  I remember standing there frozen in the moment.  

Chicago, for its part, terrified me.  The buildings were too tall.  The streets were too crowded.  The people were too aggressive.  I never felt safe.  It seemed cold- climate and personality.

I've been to Mexico City, London, Paris, Los Angeles. I've done big cities.  And, I never thought of myself as a city girl.

But, today, as I was acutely aware that the city's "energy" was lifting my day, I absolutely consider myself a city girl.

Next vacation location Chicago?  hmm.  I'll have to think about that.