Being a Blaisdell Babe

Proof - you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl. We returned to farm country this weekend, back "home" to Blaisdell Drive. It was muggy, hot, oppressively sticky. But we couldn't have had a better visit with old friends we knew for far too short a time. It was a breeze to step into my role as a Blaisdell Babe, laughing and joking, relaxing and watching the boys run around from house to house, yard to yard. The only thing that would have made it perfect would be if we still owned our home there.

We stayed with Kirsten and Tom, and they couldn't have been more wonderful hosts. I got my baby fix holding Baby Kaelyn Lee (Jodee and Rob's new week-old girl).
She's just beautiful and so tiny and delicate and pink! Stan and Dave - again and without a doubt the coolest couple I know - were there, and even Wanda and PJ made it back from Cleveland in time for us to drag them outside for a driveway party. What a night. Like I said, it was just so easy to pick up where we left off a year and one month ago. Now, if Curt could get a job back in Columbus, we'd have it made in the shade. Well, at least it's a bit cooler in the shade.

Camden and Benjamin had the best time. They ran freely with the other kids, always somebody to play with, run with, cross the street with, and find a snack with. We're sad that we don't have that kind of street here in Pa. No sidewalks, no front porches. This neighborhood is a backyard kind of place. Or an indoors kind of place. We just don't see others often, and people seem content with that. On Blaisdell Drive, our children kept us bonded together, and that was OK because we actually liked each other. So while the kids ran the hood, we stood around in driveways and sat on porches, just being neighborly. And now that we've visited Blaisdell Drive for the first time since leaving, I realize that we were far more than good neighbors. We were great friends. And I miss each and every one of them.

I love you, Blaisdell Babes!!!