Alabama - where even the cable guy is curteous

Finally - the post you've all been waiting for. We've been Alabama residents for 18 days now. And, "How is it?" you ask.



First let me say that up until our move EVERY person (except my tutoring student Dru and Emma's hairdresser, Jack and my Aunt Carol) gave us the same immediate reaction when we told them we were moving to Alabama. Friends, family, strangers, the moving company rep, the the driver of our moving truck, the lady at at&t, our checker at the grocery store, everyone.



Me: Yeah, we're moving to Alabama

Other Person: (sometimes after heavy pause and always with a heavy quality to the words) Alabama - WOW - (with genuine sympathy and surprise, as if I had said that someday soon my right leg will need to be amputated, not "Wow - I love Disneyland too!")- that will be a BIG change.



I didn't give much reaction, accept to acknowledge the obvious. Yes it will be a BIG change. And I would say that the town of Huntsville is supposed to be very nice, and that we're willing to go try it out and give our new life 100%. I didn't say - I'm going to love it or I'm going to hate it. It's going to be hard or easy, because I had no idea what I would think or how it would be once I got here.



Now, If I was smart, I would play this for all it is worth. Not only are we moving across the country - a major life change and set of hassles and challenges in and of itself - but we have moved to ALABAMA. I mean, how much worse could it get. Really.

But - let me just say that if it weren't for the dozens of itchy bug bites bringing me back to reality, every now and then I start to feel like I have moved to paradise.

I can't possibly cover all the things I would love to tell you about in this post, but I'll cover some highlights.



First of all, Huntsville is not like most of Alabama. It doesn't take too far a drive outside of town to experience the Alabama everyone imagines (think dueling banjos). But Huntsville is a growing town where people come to raise families, jobs are plentiful, houses are affordable, public schools are fantastic, and the populous generally well educated. Those are the reasons it made it to the top 10 cities to relocate to this year. But I already knew all of that.

I was more concerned about the specifics of our family life: friends, family church, activities, community, neighbors, our house (which I saw in person for the first time when we got here Saturday the 19th of July).

Here are some of the great things I discovered: Our house is even better in person than in the pictures. The previous homeowners left it in such good shape that the only thing that needed to be cleaned were the kitchen blinds. Even the chandeliers were sparkly clean and not at all dusty. Our retro and craftsman themed rooms look great in this house! Our neighbors consist of 2 families with daughters who baby sit, one family with a daughter who is Emma's age and will be going, not only to Emma's same preschool, but will be in the same class with her, and a neighbor who works at Emma's preschool with the 4 yr olds. The different neighbors have brought us a bottle of wine, a houseplant, a basket of fruit and princess gummies. We've been invited to a neighborhood bbq and have been on one playdate. We go to the pool regularly (when it's not closed due to thunderstorms). We hike around on the golf courses in the evening. There are lots of thrift and antique and boutique stores around. There are myriads of beautiful butterflies and birds.

That's all for now. More details and hopefully pictures (if we can get a working camera) about our move and our new life to follow.