Making Our Home in the City

Strangely enough, on a day in which I felt very suburban - drove the car to the strip mall, loaded it up with groceries, came home, and then drove it out again to another strip mall to load it up with stuff from Lowes - the Huangs essentially announced their commitment to urban living and to their current location.

University City, of all places, is a wonderful and yet weird place to settle. In the almost 20 years I've been here, it's improved remarkably, particularly as a place to raise kids. And yet, it is for many people a short stop en route to somewhere else: students moving on after they get their sheepskin, academics stopping in for a spell to teach and research before heading home, or young'uns eventually trading city life for the picket fence and 2.3 kids in the 'burbs.

In terms of profession and lifestyle, it hasn't been hard for us to like where we live: jobs galore, good school options for our kids, and tons of fun things to get to by foot or public transit. Perhaps, though, in the back of our heads we've been reluctant to fully settle in, because of the transience of many of our relationships. Even in our church, which has been there for 170 years and consists mostly of people within walking distance, we've seen so many dear friends come and then go, to other cities or to the suburbs or to the mission field.

But, as we perused the aisles of Lowes and picked out things for our indoors and our outdoors, we essentially said to ourselves (and then stated for the record out loud once we returned home): here we are, and no matter who else comes and goes from our little circle, let's get comfy. Because we're going to be here awhile.

I am embarrassed to admit that there are many basic things inside and outside our house that belie the fact that we've been here 11 years. But, over the next few months, we hope to make the place more like home. Who knows, maybe about a decade late, we'll have a housewarming party.