It was lovely, the garden. After John and I toured the house, we walked through the backyard, all flowers and winding paths. We are not gardeners, but even we were taken over by the roses and lavender, the eucalyptus and mint. The woman we bought the house from had been a master gardener, and the backyard was a little spot of heaven.

Heaven that took way more upkeep than we were capable of. But then Kathleen entered our life (hi Kathleen!), and she kept the hostas from devouring the brick paths and attacked all morning glories. It really was an exquisite garden, but it had no room for kids--no grass and lots of thorns.

It took us almost five years to let it go. Now, thanks to Kathleen (hi Kathleen!), we have lots of dirt. She dug half the flowers up. We have to wait until fall to put in the ecoturf (not Astroturf, this is grass for the ecologically conscious). So right now we have a medium swatch of dirt in our backyard. It’s great. The kids and are I are going out almost every night to play t-ball.

I like communal play areas. I think it’s really fun and important to go the park, meet our neighbors, negotiate over toys. We do that almost every day. I also kind of dig playing t-ball on the front sidewalk. I’m not so fond of chasing the ball into the street, but if we time it right, we can say hi to Lish, Marni, Joel, and Aaron as they come home from work. But the backyard is so easy. David can chase the balls down himself. Tripping does not involve cement. I love my third option.