My Two Writing Teachers colleagues and I are hosting the 14th Annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge, in which teachers from around the world participate in posting a story per day.
Today is one of those days when I’m feeling a tiny bit homesick for our old life in Brooklyn. I don’t usually miss much about our eleven years in the city, but now and then I feel a little nostalgic, and I wonder what our life would be like if we had stayed in Brooklyn, and hadn’t moved back home to Vermont.
If we still lived in Brooklyn…
If we still lived in Brooklyn, my two kids would be in the grade ahead of the grades they are in here in Vermont because of the difference in cut-off dates. Lily would be in 6th grade, and Jackson would be in 2nd.
If we still lived in Brooklyn, I think we would still go to museums every weekend instead of skiing or bike riding. We’d meet up with other kids to play at the park a couple times a week. I’d be paying for after school music and art programs, I’m sure.
If we still lived in Brooklyn, every few months we’d be loading our entire family into the car and driving to Vermont for a long weekend or a school vacation so my kids could see their grandparents and cousins.
If we still lived in Brooklyn, our kids would know what pizza was supposed to taste like, and they’d know what a good bagel was.
If we still lived in Brooklyn, their classmates would come from a much more diverse set of backgrounds and experiences.
If we still lived in Brooklyn, I would have definitely chosen the public school up the street for our kids. It was a really good school.
If we still lived in Brooklyn my kids would have friends who spoke multiple languages.
If we still lived in Brooklyn, would my kids still love snow?
If we still lived in Brooklyn, hiking a mountain would be a once-in-a-while adventure, not a weekly thing.
If we still lived in Brooklyn, would we have stayed in our apartment? We loved our apartment.
If we still lived in Brooklyn, would my kids know how to build a fire?
If we still lived in Brooklyn, Brinton and I would still be working a lot more than we do now. Our kids would have needed a nanny to drop them off and pick them up from school every day.
If we still lived in Brooklyn, we’d still have to press pause sometimes because the traffic outside our second floor apartment was too loud to hear the television.
If we still lived in Brooklyn, we never would have met all our friends in Vermont.
Pretty sure we’d be broke by now if we still lived in Brooklyn.
If we still lived in Brooklyn, we’d be happy, but still dreaming of someday moving home to Vermont.