Bye-Bye Backyard, Hello Mountain View

As soon as we walked through the doors of our new townhome in Mountain View, our daughter, Josie started to looking for the backdoor.

“There’s no backdoor,” I told her.

“Well, how do I get to the backyard?”

My husband, Norm, and I exchanged glances. Both of our hearts broke a little.

It was time to sit Josie and her little brother, Owen, down and explain to them that our new home didn’t have a backyard. We’d been dreading the conversation from the moment we decided to leave our home in Morgan Hill and move to Mountain View.

It’s hard enough for young children to move from the only house they have ever known. But to lose a huge backyard with their very own swing set was almost unforgivable.

But when my husband and I made a list of the reasons to move to Mountain View, the happiness of our children was at the top. We wanted to stop living in our backyard and start to show them what the Bay Area has to offer.

We scrapped our plans to spend the day unpacking boxes. Instead, we took our children outside to show them what they got in exchange for giving up their big back yard and very own swing set.

We met our new neighbors. We saw girls riding bikes and boys playing football. We found two parks just minutes away from our doorstep. There were so many places to run, and play, and explore. That backyard didn’t seem so important any more.

As we walked back towards our house, we heard the faint chime of the light rail getting closer. My husband and I exchanged smiles. We were saving the best for last.

Josie and Owen turned around just in time to see the light rail stop right in front of our townhome. “A train! A train!” They both screamed as they watched people get on and off.

“Can we go on it?” Josie said.

“Sure,” Norm said as he picked both of them up and started to run.

I quickly followed and together we got on a train without any idea where it was headed.