No Mo B-Mo??? Not AnyMo

When John first told me he was moving to Baltimore back in 2004 to cut grass for the Orioles, No Mo B-Mo was all I could think. I chanted it often, even made John a CD so cleverly titled No Mo B-Mo that consisted of sappy love songs hoping he wouldn't forget me. I should not be admitting this but I did not even know where Baltimore was; had no idea it was in the state of Maryland. (I've never considered Geography one of my strengths!) None the less, I never in a million years thought I would be saying, "I miss Baltimore!" And I do. A Lot!
While I spent the weekend lovingly acting as a single parent (blog to come soon on that), John enjoyed a weekend in the city I think of as ours, and I was jealous! I know we spent 6 months in Birmingham just after getting married, but I still consider Baltimore our first city, our first home, and an all around great place. Baltimore really brought John and I together as a family. Our relationship became deeper and more meaningful because we learned to depend solely on each other.
I also loved Baltimore for what it did to me. I grew up! I gained this confidence and independence I never knew I had or could have. I am the baby of my family and have a sister 11 years older than me and because of this I was always looked at as the one everyone needed to take care of. It is sweet and I am thankful for my nurturing family. But it was nice to grow in to my own, to have something of my own, and to feel like I could do things for myself.
And of course - I love Baltimore because that is where we started our family! Thanks to GBMC, we have a healthy, beautiful, baby girl! I definitely missed having my family and friends around during my pregnancy but am grateful that we had Abby in Baltimore. It gave us a chance to figure things out for ourselves. Sorry Abby! And Abby will be the cool kid in school who can say, well I was born in Maryland but have lived in Alabama for most of my life!


So here are a few of the things I miss most about Baltimore and my life there: (in no particular order)

• Allison - we developed a relationship that I truly cherish - And Stuart and Bird of course!
• All of our friends who really became like family. It was neat to spend holidays with our Baltimore family, and we taught them a thing or two about how to really celebrate a holiday focused on Jesus!
• Walking everywhere - what a great way to start your day with a nice brisk walk to work!
• Carma's Icelandic Yogurt - she will ship it anywhere you like on dry ice but I have a hard time justifying spending $100 for a $4 cup of yogurt!
• Donna's caramel lattes
• The Saturday morning Waverly Farmer's Market
• The Row Houses and architecture- although we didn't know our neighbors as well as I thought we should have seeing as how we shared walls. I never did ask anyone for a cup of sugar!
• Grilling out on our back porch and having people over all the time. Having Abby really helped us become the central location. Everyone just came to us!
• Having an elaborate fireplace in your bedroom!
• The enormous claw foot tub in our first apartment.
• Feeling like everything you see and do is a new and grand adventure simply because you are in a different city.

I love Baltimore - and I love the people we left. I will forever look back and smile when I think of that wonderful time in our lives, Hun!