Reminisce

Today we went to visit our dear friends Chris, Kristen, and Annika in their new house in Rockridge. We loaded up the kids in the van with their backpacks. Sofia's is pink and was full of goodies. She kept telling us that she had a "special surprise" for daddy but that he couldn't have his surprise until we got to Annika's house. I guess she got a bit anxious because she all of the sudden yelled "surprise!" and pulled out a small bottle of hand sanitizer saying, "here daddy, this is your special surprise that you used to use when you were a baby but you can't use it anymore because you're not a baby anymore, but I can use it." I have no idea where she found her "surprise" but she was very proud of herself for trying to surprise her daddy. Luca was wearing his "packpack" which is a monkey, but he did not want to out anything in it. Rather, he wanted to carry his "baseball game" which is a baseball. He loves any kind of ball, but seems to be particularly interested in baseball these days. Daddy better dust off his soccer shoes start kicking a ball around with him or he might end up with a baseball-playing son. Uh Oh.
Anyway, we loaded all of the kids and their stuff into the van and headed across the bridge to our old stomping ground. As we drove up their street, Brian and I both admired the trees and beautiful homes in the area. After seeing their amazing new home, we took a walk to get a bite to eat. As we headed up the street, I was hit with a pang of sadness; there is a part of me that really misses the east bay. The smell of the trees and the fresh air reminded me of the place where I began my family. We love living back in the city and always saw ourselves raising our family here, but we did spend 3 wonderful years in Oakland. I thought of the walks I would take near Cordonices park on Euclid, the weekly trips to Rockridge where we would get coffee and hang out in Rockridge kids, and the myriad of activities for kids, like Tumble and Tea or Studio Grow. Oh how I miss Studio Grow. I have struggled to find such great places to take the kids here in the city, so I find myself missing the east bay. I spent so many afternoons at Willard park. I just miss the ease and simplicity of life outside of the city. There is always parking nearby and everything is about a 10-minute drive. I would not change our decision for the world but I had to spend a moment reminiscing about our life in Oakland. While we walking up the street, Brian joked about a dilapidated house, saying "we could buy that house, fix it up, and then we would live down the street from Chris and Kristen." I actually paused and thought "that wouldn't be so bad."