Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Even though I’m young and I still have much to learn, I can say this—I’m an expert at the moving process. 

Bubble wrap, boxes, cost comparisons of U-haul companies, how to properly dispose of unwanted belongings, you name it, I know about it. 

In the last six years, we’ve moved eight times. You’d better believe that after my husband finishes up his graduate studies here in Pittsburgh, I will be stapling his feet firmly to the ground in our chosen location (metaphorically speaking of course).

If I had to give one piece of advice for those people who are about to start the packing process, it would be this—always expect the unexpected. With as much chaos that surrounds the whole packing process, expecting things to proceed without a hitch is unrealistic, especially when you have children. My oldest daughter, Ava, gave us a “gentle” reminder of how the unexpected always happens by splitting her head open a day before our impending move (). 

The girls and I headed to Maine for a visit while Erik finished packing up the U-haul. There was one thing he had to take care of before he left for Pittsburgh and that was replacing his phone and I still don’t think we ever found the elusive phone—which had been missing for three months. Come to find out he wasn’t able to get the phone he wanted in Rhode Island and decided to make the trek across Pennsylvania without one. With as dependent as we are on technology —or at least me—I was panic stricken when I received this news, but off he went. 

Unfortunately, his time of arrival wasn’t exact and trying to find a pay phone at a convenience store these days is impossible. I ended up being the middle man between our soon to be landlord and Erik’s phone messages. Trying to coordinate that was a challenge and Erik ended up getting caught up in traffic, arriving at the apartment late and making our landlord wait for him. Luckily, we have the best landlord in the world and he was very good about helping us out.     

So, Erik made it here to Point Breeze eventually and started the daunting task of unloading the U-haul. Something strange happened though, and out of all our moves, this is the first time we’ve been pleasantly surprised. A few of our neighbors actually came over to help Erik unload the U-haul! This cut the unloading time in half for him and he was able to take a few minutes and get to know everyone. In the past, it’s taken us months to get to know our neighbors and Erik knew the whole block within a day! 

After a week visiting in northern Maine, it was time for the girls and me to make the long trip to Pittsburgh. Everything actually went fine, but it was a long ride—about two and a half days. We were very happy to find our new apartment and to find it with ease—kudos to the city for having all their street signs visible. 

We walked in and the girls made themselves at home immediately. I was able to talk with a couple of neighbors and I found several notes on the fridge with neighbors' numbers and also another with a list of preschools in the area—Ava will be starting this fall at the Carriage House. 

Hands down, Point Breeze has to be the most welcoming neighborhood we’ve ever moved to. One of the neighbors later told us that Fred Rogers used to live just a couple blocks away and they were big on welcoming neighbors. Both Erik and I loved that, especially since we both grew up watching the show.

So, now that we’re here, I have to say I think this is the perfect place to settle in for the next couple of years.