Losing Track of Days

Okay, so I haven't been keeping up with things very well, especially this blog. The past week has been a little crazy with the birth of a new grandson. Here with him and his mom and dad, I can't even keep the hours of the day straight, let alone the days of the week. He pulled his first all-nighter last night, so we are all a little tired today. His dad had to go back to work this morning, and I wonder if he was even able to stay awake on the subway ride into the city.

In addition to helping with a newborn baby, I am in the middle of a major metropolitan area, which I find really disorienting. Last night I went out for a walk around the neighborhood to get some fresh air. First of all, fresh air is not easy to find when you are surrounded by tall buildings and hundreds of rushing vehicles. And then what they call a neighborhood here is nothing like a neighborhood in Montana. In a half-hour walk I saw three major hotels (Hilton, Weston & Holiday Inn), several tall apartment buildings, a large indoor shopping mall, a couple of large federal government buildings, several other office skyscrapers (do they call them that anymore?) and at least a dozen restaurants, not to mention multiple bus stops and a metro station or two. It was between eight and nine o'clock on a Monday evening, and there were lots of people out--in cars, in families, in restaurants, running. It all makes little old Helena, Montana look like a hick town (which it is NOT, by the way).

Our kids here live in a high-rise apartment building, where you only hear your neighbors, never see them (except occasionally in the elevator, but then they are on their ipods or cell phones). It's a different life, that's for sure, and I suspect a pretty lonely one for many of the people who live here. Fortunately, it's only temporary for this family. I have never thought of myself as a country girl, but I'm certainly not a city girl either. Is there something in between urban and rural? Urbal, maybe? Hmmmmmmmm.