Part 2: What I actually miss

This morning, Pablo, Rafael and I were sitting at one of our three local cafes and it occurred to me that there is very little that I miss about living in Marrickville.

What inspired this thought?

My coffee wasn't amazing. In fact, none of the coffees from any of the cafes have been great. Passable. Not terrible. Just... ok. Occasionally, if we're lucky, we might be able to say that a coffee was... good. Not very exciting stuff.

I miss great coffee, and we had great coffee in Marrickville.

But... our new cafe that we seem to attend the most is amazing for kids. Our local in Marrickville was always crowded and noisy and just a bit too funky to enjoy taking Rafael to it. He doesn't want to sit for too long; he is only two years old after all. Our new local cafe is really big, with lots of tables and usually very few people in there. We let Rafael down and he wanders around the table (or crawls underneath it) without disturbing anyone (including us).

Is there anything else we miss?

I do miss the nice parks - and having the company of other parents at the park. Our new local park is a bit dismal and so far we have always been the only people there.

But... and again, there is a but! Now that I have backyard for my little Ninja Turtle to play in, we don't need to go to the park half as often anymore. That was the entire point of moving to the suburbs, having our own private playground so that we didn't need to pack up and leave the house every time Rafael needed some activity. Now, Rafael spends at least twice as much time outside than he was while we lived in Marrickville and he loves it.

I asked Pablo what he missed about Marrickville. His response was the same as mine - not as much as he expected. He agreed with me that he misses good coffee the most. Maybe that just says something about our commitment to caffeine.

He did also say that he misses living opposite Woolworths. It was convenient just being able to cross the road the do the groceries. I think I miss this a little less because I don't mind going out to Woolworths and doing a big shop. Pablo on the other hand thinks that when we do that we tend to waste more food that we don't get to eat quickly enough. He definitely has a valid point, but I do think that over time we will just get used to knowing how much we need and how long it will all last in the fridge. Practice makes perfect after all.

Otherwise we everything we need and want. We still live in a multicultural area of Sydney. We still have everything we need within a walk from the house; park, shops, bank, trains and buses. But now we have the added benefits of a backyard, more space, wonderful neighbours and being closer to work (for me anyway). Two of the three things that we each miss about living in Marrickville have a big 'but' attached, where we feel like we miss something, but we have gained something else to balance it.

All in all, this move has been an important step for our family. Please don't get me wrong. Marrickville was wonderful while it lasted. It gave us everything we desired, especially before we had Rafael, but also afterwards. I don't regret a moment of it and I don't wish that I had moved a day earlier.

I just feel lucky that we have gained more than we have lost.