I can’t believe this: it’s been a year since our moving truck rolled out of Old Town Alexandria and transported us one county – and what sometimes feels like half a world – away to the exurbs. In some ways, it feels like we have been living this exurb lifestyle forever; in other ways, I’m surprised to wake up and not find myself in my little rowhouse in Old Town.

On the day we moved in, driving to pick up my kids from their babysitter’s house, I saw a wild turkey loitering by the sign at the entrance to our neighborhood. If this is a sign of things to come, I thought, we’re in for a treat, living here. The past year has brought us so many cool wildlife sightings; from gorgeous orange foxes running through our front yard at dawn to the nesting pair of eagles – and their chicks! – at our favorite local park, just ten minutes away, I sometimes feel like I’m living in a NatGeo special.

We loved living in Old Town, and there were so many advantages to our walkable city lifestyle – but one huge drawback was the lack of good outdoor space for the kiddos. We made the best of our little patio, but I wanted them to have a cool yard. They’ve made the most of our green space this past year – from sledding with the neighbor kid to climbing on their red and blue dome (which they could never have done in Old Town – I think the box it came in, pre-assembly, was bigger than our old patio; kidding, kidding).

I’ve been wanting a fire pit for ages. We could have had one in Old Town, probably, sure, but hanging out by the fire toasting marshmallows outdoors was on my list for when we moved and had more space to kick around. When we buy the forever house (in the same zip code, if we have our way) I want to install something more permanent. For now, this works. I’m keeping s’mores ingredients in my pantry at all times.

Here’s something I haven’t done yet: I haven’t rehabilitated this wild jungle. Last year, we moved in June and it felt like it was really already too late. This year, things were just busy – with changing jobs, getting to the finish line of the weirdest school year ever, and the first season (the first of many, I hope) of Little League. I did uproot a bunch of dandelion plants, so that’s something. We’ll do another container garden, and planting a really elaborate garden might just be another thing that has to wait for the forever house. But it has been nice to sit outside this spring (when the pollen wasn’t too outrageous) and enjoy the surprise blooming. Best thing about the first year in a new house: all the flowers that you don’t know to expect.

What a year it’s been! We’ve leaned into finding our favorite local restaurants, embraced the Little League lifestyle, gone trail-running in our neighborhood park, and started meeting people here. This is a small town, and I am looking forward to post-pandemic coffee shop visits and really starting to feel like a local. I do miss being able to walk out my backdoor and stroll to the library, the neighborhood playgrounds and pool, the waterfront, and dozens of different restaurants – there were advantages to city living, no doubt. But I am glad we made this move, and I can’t wait to settle in and spend years here.