Contemplating Suburbia

I've talked about my encounters with homeless people in Ballard before, and lately it seems that things have started to get worse. Although our Homeowners Association took steps to install a metal door that prohibits street people from sleeping in the alcove where I inadvertently bashed into a homeless person as I left our condo building a couple years ago, I still regularly walk past multiple individuals sleeping on the sidewalk when I walk to the bus stop each morning. Generally, I don't bother them, and they don't bother me. (The panhandlers on Third Avenue downtown are quite a bit more aggressive, but that's a story for another day).

Yesterday I left a little early so that I could drop a couple overdue items off at the Ballard Public Library on my way to catch the bus. As I approached the drop box I noticed a homeless man lurching my way, mumbling to himself. When he noticed me he started shouting, "F*ck yeah, put that sh*t in the box," among other irrational phrases loaded with obscenities, at the top of his lungs. When I proceeded to ignore him and make my way to the bus, he became angry and combative, calling me a spoiled f*cking b*tch, the c-word, etc. I could still hear him screaming from down the street for several blocks.

Once I arrived at the bus stop I joined about a dozen other people waiting for the express bus into downtown. We were almost immediately approached by a woman wearing a blanket and slippers who began to demand money from each person in turn. When she was ignored by most and eventually asked to back away by one man, she became furiously angry and began screaming at the entire group about how we did not deserve her respect, etc. Of course including profuse use of the f-word.

This was definitely not how I had planned on starting my Monday morning. Dude, all I'm trying to do is get to work! It's not even 8 a.m. and I really don't have the energy to deal with this. I'm tired. I feel like a bad person for feeling anger and resentment toward these people who obviously have mental or drug abuse problems, but I can't seem to muster a single ounce of pity. All I'm thinking is, "get me out of this city."

There was a time when I said I would never, ever consider living in the suburbs, and proclaimed my love for city living almost daily. And I have absolutely adored living in Seattle for the past almost eight years. But it's funny how getting married and beginning to think about starting a family can really begin to change your perspective and priorities. I don't want to raise children in a place where they can't return a library book without the worry of being harassed, or worse. Besides that, I want to live in a house where we can have a garage to store sporting equipment, and a yard where the kids can play with the dog. I want to live in a community with a good school district and low crime rates. Stew and I have been doing a lot of thinking, and it's become obvious that we can't attain these goals in the city of Seattle.

Photo courtesy of Issaquah Undressed blog.

So it was ironic that the same day I was verbally attacked by two street people on my way to work that we had plans to check out Issaquah with our friends Tara and Andrew (who grew up there). We met up after work in Issaquah's historic downtown for dinner and then we spent a couple hours just driving around familiarizing ourselves with the different neighborhoods. (We didn't like Issaquah Highlands as much as we thought we would, but we loved the North Issaquah and Cougar Mountain areas).

Stew and I chose to start exploring Issaquah as a potential city to live in because it has a reputation for being very family friendly with good schools, and commute-wise it makes a lot of sense for both of us. Plus it is only 15 minutes from downtown Seattle (actually closer than Ballard!) We like the idea of being able to buy a single family home in a really kid friendly community, while still being close to all the activities we love in the city, like sports, theater and dining.

So we're contemplating. We don't have any major plans yet, but we're definitely leaning in the direction of moving out of the city and into the suburbs. It makes me sad, but also excited. It will be a new chapter in our lives that has so many adventures to look forward to. We'll be sure to keep you posted! (And watch your back in Ballard, homies).