Luge Lessons, Summers in Rangoon.....
Pookie and I are both small town kids that have been transplanted to the big city. I think it`s a pretty natural thing to associate your own childhood with a "normal" childhood, and we are no different. We never really thought we would be raising kids in the city because we weren't raised in one ourselves. But, the fact of the matter is that unless Pookie discovers a Celine Dion-like singing voice (minus the bulging neck cords and annoying French accent), or I really work on my jumpshot, we aren't going anywhere for a very long time.
Calgary has its advantages. There are sports here other than hockey and street hockey, and a million other activities that you just don't find in smaller areas. The main downside is that you know that the more your kids like football and baseball (hopefully) or interpretive dance (hopefully not), the farther you will have to drive them in rush hour traffic to get there.
One funny thing I have noticed is that a small town dad that is happy to wake up at 5 in the morning to drive in a blizzard to a hockey tournament in Elkford, but is aghast at driving 20 minutes to the same tournament in Calgary. A matter of perspective I suppose.
Safety and crime are other issues. For some reason when I think of kids running around in the big city I automatically assume they are in a more dangerous town than the one I grew up in. It's easy to go into Maude Flanders mode (Won`t somebody think of the children?). Just a month ago some guy I never heard of was shot by some other guy over a drug deal, and Pincher had no murders. The fact that thousands of drug dealers sailed through the month just fine, and that 1.2 million other law abiding citizens that had no contact with crime whatsoever should carry some weight. Boring middle class shmoes who think big crime is tearing the `DO NOT REMOVE` tag off a mattress are not exactly in mortal danger here. Maybe I watch too much CTV.
More crime seems to equate to more danger would be my point, even though statistically the town I grew up in makes Tombstone look like Mayberry. (If you don`t know what Mayberry is, ask someone over 50) I think we will be able to steer the Pooklings away from lives of crime here as well as we could anywhere else.
The last issue is the weather. It may have nothing to do with raising kids, but the weather here sucks. Sorry Tourism Calgary, but you are full of shit. There is nothing majestic about scraping your car windshield or having snot freeze rock solid in your nose while you scurry to your car in April.
We have great friends here and no employment options of note anywhere else, so this is where we are going to be for a while. If you happen to pop by and the house is empty, we won Lotto Max and moved to San Diego to live on a golf course and roll naked in authentic Mexican cuisine on our birthdays (ewww). Small town people, big dreams.
By the way, not sure who checked the blog in Spain, but good work there Senor.
Until next time. (obviously)
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