Last night we had friends over for dinner. In an attempt to interest their 3 year old I mentioned to him that we had a deck he could play on if he wanted to be outside. So we step through the sliding glass door which is off our living room and out onto our modestly sized 10' by 4' (approx) balcony and he's like, "So, uh, where is it? Where can I go?" and I was like, "Uh, so, uh yea, this is the deck..." He genuinely looked confused and repeated his question.
Welcome to the city kid. Space is a premium. Truthfully I pretty much said the same as he when several months earlier (prior to adapting to In-Seattle living) I left our friends place which is just a few blocks from ours and noticed their balcony was more of a ledge than a deck... If you think mine is tiny, their deck is so small it's literally standing room only. I hear it's called a Julliete or something?
It was then that I mentioned to Nick that I didn't quite understand whether it made sense to build a deck so small that it couldn't house even one small folding chair. That's when I had MY "Welcome to the city" moment. So Owen, I'm totally with you... Yea, it's not much of a play area and who was I to think I could fool you. Lesson learned, don't underestimate a 3 year olds ability to spot real estate flaws...
Truthfully a few years ago I wouldn't have thought myself a potential townhome owner, but after life in Hong Kong this place feels near heavenly and there are real pluses to living IN the city. And just FYI, our neighbors are quiet, the neighborhood well manicured. It's close to enough stuff, far away from enough stuff. I don't miss having a yard although that may change when us 2 become 3 or 4 or 5.
It more than works for now. It's lovely. But I guess I might want to host birthday parties for young children elsewhere. Just in case they want to play outside. But if in a pinch I learned a pug dog and bowl of candy can work absolute magic, atleast with Owen.
