It took a little bit, but I am fully suburbanized.

Just 12 months ago I was a legally single male who frequented nice bars and restaurants in Philadelphia with his fiancé. We lived right next to the hustlin’ bustlin’ Italian Market. I was running on the Schuylkill to the Art Museum multiple times a week. A Sixers game or Phillies game was just a short subway ride away. There was always something to do so long as we wanted to do it.

And 12 months later, we’re buying furniture from Pottery Barn to decorate the new townhouse we just moved into in Doylestown, an hour outside of the city. We’re picking out colors to paint the nursery. We’re going on walks around the neighborhood while elementary school kids play in the street. A five year old even cucked me yesterday. He stepped on his toy as he was walking and yelled “That hurt!” towards us, to which I laughed and he said “It’s not funny!” to which I said “I’m sorry“ and continued walking. That is a far cry from a homeless man on Market Street telling me he’s going to kill me.

To be honest. I’m exactly where I want to be; where I expected to be. I always assumed I’d ‘settle down’ eventually. I was lucky enough to meet Meghan and make that a reality.

Now, having the live-in-the-city days behind me, it’s interesting to look back. I went to the city this past weekend to visit a friend. I hadn’t been back in a couple of months. It’s still as lively and fun as ever. I had a great time and absolutely a part of me felt like “wow, I wish we lived there or at least went back more often“.

But obviously that was going to be my reaction. The grass is always greener, it’s very easy to romanticize. At the tail-end of our time there I remember thinking “Boy am I ready to get out of here. The bars, restaurants, and people are great, but I’m just ready to start the next chapter of our lives“. To some people that sounds miserable, and to others it sounds great. And don’t get me wrong, we could probably live in Philly our whole lives and it would be great, but practically speaking, there’s a reason people do what we’re doing.

On top of just where we live, having a kid changes everything. I haven’t formally announced that on the blog, but yes, there is a baby Stortz on the way. I’ve had friends have kids and you never see them again, but I’ve had other friends have kids and show that you can still live your life. It depends on what you want to get out it. That’s easy for me to write as I sit here without our baby here yet, but it’s not a death knell to all fun. And I undoubtedly believe I’ll want to sacrifice fun outings to spend time with our kid(s). But that’s a topic for another post.

So this is merely a life update post after a few weeks away. It’s 7:44, PM. The neighborhood is quiet. I’m going to go upstairs and watch White Lotus in bed with my wife and two cats before we go to sleep. That sounds pretty good to me!