Small Town Girl

The first time I saw Frederick, it was love at first sight. It was summertime and we had spent the weekend camping with Josh and Abby. (It was Evie's first camping trip and I was pregnant with Lucy, which meant that I could carry nothing on our hike to the camping site, Toby could carry Evie on his back and Josh ended up with a backpack that towered over his head and must have weighed more than he did.) On the way back to DC, Josh and Abby suggested that we stop in Frederick for lunch and maybe even catch a baseball game. I had no expectations, but as soon as we pulled in to the Norman Rockwell-looking street (appropriately named Rockwell Terrace), with beautiful old houses with large front porches, flowering trees and sidewalks, I turned to Toby and said, "This is it. We're moving here." Less than a year later, we did. It wasn't rational. Toby would have a horrible commute and we knew no one and pretty much nothing about our new town, but our decision wasn't necessarily based on reason. After my first date with Toby, I wrote in my diary that "I would marry Toby if he asked me today". I believe in love at first sight.

Last weekend, we visited Frederick after nearly five months away. This time, we arrived in the dark and the trees that line the streets were bare, but I was still taken back by the beauty of the small town we had called home for four years. We are used to the lights of Los Angeles, so driving through the historic downtown against the backdrop of a black sky felt like we were going back in time (back by years and years, not merely five months.) When we first saw Frederick, we wondered if we would relate to any of the people in such a small town. This time, driving into town, I knew the people in the houses - knew that they are home to a group of our friends - a group of intelligent, progressive people who have chosen this mellow lifestyle and are passionate about living in and continuing to improve their town.

We spent the weekend at pot luck dinners and brunches and meeting up in the park. The girls played with their friends, who feel more like family to us now. Some of them had lost teeth, some had grown new ones. The babies especially had changed. Noa, who had seemed just a tiny baby when we left, was walking. Apparently we've changed some too - the girls are taller, Noni has grown more hair.

Leaving this time was hard. When we left in June, it was in a whirlwind of packing and excitement. We didn't know what to expect but we did know we'd be coming back in five months. This time, it will be nine months before we return for another visit. We know what to expect and in many ways, it's better than I had imagined when we drove to the airport last summer. We have made friends that we care about. We have spent weekends at the beach and on incredible hikes. And I can honestly say now that all three of the girls are happy in California. Before I left, I went to Evie's school to collect her homework for the week and her teacher said, "I will miss her smiling face even for just a couple days. Evie is my happy girl. She is always happy." I kept thinking of that when I was watching her with her old friends and thinking about how she would be leaving them again.

There are things I love about Los Angeles - in Frederick, I missed my run up the canyon, the warm, sunny weather and of course the friends that we've made. But having grown up on a peninsula in a small town in Vermont, I am not sure I can live in a city forever. Being back in Frederick made me realize that somehow or other, we will get back to this little town in the mountains that still feels like home.