New life

I'm having a baby.

Ok, wait, I'm not having a baby, my wife is having a- WE are having a baby!  Well golly gee, HOW DID THAT HAPPEN??  (That's a rhetorical question, by the way.)

As our baby is due in July, life is beginning to change little by little (and soon enough by A LOT).  We've talked a lot about moving out of our God-forsaken neighborhood.  Probably the city, too.  Things have become pretty lousy over here in Chicago - politically and socially.  We've grown tired of constant tax increases and crime.  Tired of traffic, tired of living right under the landing path for airplanes coming to O'Hare, tired of the jerky sort of people who like to throw their construction garbage and broken concrete chunks into my garbage can.  Tired of being afraid to walk my dog at night, not knowing if each car that approaches slowly is going to produce thugs with guns demanding my money (BTW, if there are any thugs reading this, I never carry cash on me, so don't waste your time).  This very morning, I was told by my neighbor that her husband's work van was stolen right out in front of my house hours before.  Is my car next?

I was raised in the city.  Barriers were never really a "thing" - either my mom didn't know that I was running all over the place, or she didn't care (I like to think it was the former).  I played on the railroad tracks, for goodness sakes.  Went to the local forest preserves, which were riddled with all sorts of non-kosher people.  And I turned out all right, I think.  But these aren't the 80s and 90s anymore.  The world constantly changes, and fortunately we are in a situation where we are able to relocate to a safer and probably more wonderful area to raise a child.  I think a place with woodlands in the vicinity would be great.  Preferably a stream where we can use dipnets to catch small fish and frogs.  Teach our child about the natural world in a place that better resembles the natural world.  Too many kids, SO many kids, just don't have that opportunity or that model.  There is little respect for nature.  The urge to explore is now satiated solely through video games and tablets.  The outside world must seem so dangerous to the kids today, since they receive all of their experiences of it through scary movies and/or sensationalized, false claims.  We've alienated our kids from nature. As George Carlin wondered, "When does a kid ever get to sit in the yard and play with a stick anymore?  Do today's kids even know what a stick is??"

So even though there is a growing trend of kids raised "safely", away from the perils of the outdoors (pointy objects be damned), there will be at least one more coming around really soon that will be raised otherwise.  I will encourage getting a little dirty.  I'm a strong believer in the hygiene hypothesis - keeping kids in an overly sterile environment can lead to a multitude of allergies and sensitivities.  We aren't slobs - we are very clean, organized, civilized human beings.  But I'll be damned if it's a gorgeous day outside and my child is inside, bored.  That kid is going to climb trees and jump in big piles of leaves.

Leaves with slugs in them.  God help us.