5 first impressions

The move happened last weekend. Although we have been going back and forth to the old place to finish projects, clean, get the last of our crap, we have spending the night at Verde Street. And here are some first impression to remember from our first week.

1. We can hear the church bells chime every hour at St. Francis. It's dreamy.

2.We get quite a few homeless people milling around. I met a man yesterday named Johnny G. and gave him our bananas. He sang a song he had written about Jesus to Casey. Casey laid his head on my shoulder and smiled. Johnny told me he didn't want to be homeless anymore and I asked him if he was staying at the shelter. He said the shelter is depressing. I guarantee he is right. Told him I would see him around. He was very kind and I will be praying for him. I want Casey to grow up knowing the homeless are not villains. If we lived in a community surround by gates, I'm sure I would not be having these kind of experiences. Love that we have opportunities to love our unloved neighbors.

3. My dream of living within a couple miles of train tracks has come true. We can hear the trains bump together at night and toot their horns. I point them out to Jay everynight when we are going to bed. I think it's romantic.

4. There are more projects here than we realized. Everywhere we look, we see potential. But we also see things we want to change. We are dreamers and a little crazy. We will see what happens.

5. LOVE the neighborhood. We have met most of our neighbors and we got good vibes [except for 'issues'-Sandlot-dog next door] . We know 3 couples who live within a mile of us. If you are a Bakersfield dweller, move downtown and let's get this Downtown Renaissance going.