So we moved to southern Maryland in January for my husband’s new job as a contractor with the Navy. After all my bitching and moaning and whining about how I SO DID NOT want to move to Maryland (when he was still in the Navy and this base was a distant possibility), I have to admit that I love it up here. Really and truly love it. I would think it totally blew if I was single and wanted to get my drink on every weeknight since I’m pretty sure the local nightlife consists of the snack bar at Target or getting buzzed and teasing the area Amish-folk. The only crap thing I’ve noticed is that people aren’t very nice. Or pretty, but that’s another story. I guess being raised in the South where everyone chats and takes their time and customer service is expected and offered, I’m a little taken aback by the surliness of the clerks and cashiers and waitstaff around here. I’m considerate, I’m thoughtful, I’m a good tipper — why are you being so mean to me? Back in Atlanta or SC or FL, I would’ve demanded to see the manager or asked why I was being treated so rudely. Here I’m just happy when they don’t full-on glare at me and with my tendency to befriend the human strays of the world, I overcompensate with smiles and thanks. I think from now on I’ll tell them all they can suck it (tm Kathy Griffin).
Neighbor kids taunting my kid on the beautiful new deck.
OH, my point was that I love it up here, and the main reasons are the weather and Stuff To Do. In Pensacola it was so MF hot every single day that I didn’t even want to take the Bean outside because we’d both be covered in a film of sweat by the time we got to the car 6 feet away. Just another of my pleasant, endearing characteristics I passed along to my offspring. So it’s June, almost July, and holy CRAP, it’s still getting into the 60s at night! Are you kidding me? How freakin awesome is that? And my handyman husband just built us an AMAZING deck and we can actually enjoy it all year round because it’s not a furnace out there! and my child won’t boil in 38 seconds just from standing outside! We live in a really big neighborhood with tons of trees, a pool, walking paths and recreation fields and in our cul-de-sac alone there are about 15 kids under the age of 10. Bean loves to run around and be chased by the older kids and also likes to travel the cul-de-sac and pilfer any ball she can get her tiny chubster hands on. (Hey, PROVE it’s not our ball, kid! Yeah, send your mom over!) Plus, we’re still like 10 minutes from a few different beaches and water sources, plus within an hour or so of all sorts of museums and zoos and aquariums. Did everybody already know that the reason you have kids is To Find Them Stuff To Occupy Them Until It’s Bedtime Again? That’s the key to the universe.
you really do fit in well here.