It was a quiet, snowy night in Bedford, MA and large, white flakes were falling softly on the windshield of our parked car. With the heat cranking, we peered out the window trying to make out the details of the house under the street light. There was still a holiday wreath on the front door of the charming little Cape.“Oh…it’s sooo pretty,” I said to my husband. We didn’t know it at the time, but we were looking at our first house.

Finding the Right Area of Massachusetts

Town of Bedford MAFor a couple of years we’d been saving like fiends and scouring the towns around the Boston area (I still have that same map book actually), and eventually set our sights on the northwest suburbs. We loved the area for its proximity to the city and to our extended family in Belmont. And as a gal who grew up mostly in Pennsylvania, the historical feel of Bedford and its neighbors, Lexington and Concord, reminded me of home.

When we first set foot in that sweet little Cape, the décor and the warmth felt just like the inn where we had our wedding reception, The Publick House in Sturbridge, MA. We loved the screened in porch, the closet in the bedroom that was so big we knew we wouldn’t have to fight over it, and the light-filled room across the hall that we hoped someday would be the baby’s room.

Moving In

The day we got the keys we were ecstatic. We celebrated our home owner status with many hours spent peeling and scrapping stubborn wallpaper, endless trips to the local paint shop, and weekends strolling the aisles of furniture stores. Finally that summer we had a house-warming barbecue, complete with frozen margaritas out on the deck. We made them in our very own kitchen with those great cedar cabinets and one of our first splurges, a new oven – although back then we joked that it was more like an expensive kitchen clock for all the use it got.

A couple of years later we were blessed to turn that second bedroom into a nursery. We brought our son home to a room that had been meticulously decorated, stocked, arranged and rearranged, especially during those nine looooong days after my due date. I spent afternoons rocking him to sleep on the porch, or walking with the stroller into town. I joined the Bedford Family Connection to meet other moms. On warm nights I’d sit out on the front stoop with him in my lap, watching the cars go by… and every now and then we’d get a honk and a wave from a friendly commuter. And sometimes “Lucy” from across the street would stop over with muffins, or a toy, or just to have a chat.

2 Years Later…

A couple years later, we sold that wonderful Cape and bought a bigger house, just in time for our daughter to arrive. We planted a beautiful blue hydrangea bush that my parents gave us the summer she was born, and we bought a picnic table. Now we have a big yard in a big neighborhood that’s just about a half mile from our first home. Our retired neighbors bestow on us old toys from the attic that their grand-kids have outgrown.  And the bus stop, right out our front door, is teaming with kids every morning…exactly what we’d pictured when we bought this house.

Occasionally my husband gets wind of an opportunity to work in another big city or even beyond the U.S., and although we consider ourselves to be adventurous, we just couldn’t do it.

Local Schools

Bedford High School

Before we even had kids we drove by Davis Elementary School where our son will soon be entering 2^nd grade, and our daughter (I can’t believe it) will be in kindergarten. We have wonderful close friends and neighbors and this summer (when I’m not at work at this fantastic real estate company called The Higgins Group Realtors) I plan to spend a good amount of time supervising sidewalk chart art on our long driveway and bike rides down to the cul de sac, a neighborhood gathering spot.

And with my husband’s family now 10 minutes away in Lexington, we have five young cousins between us who adore afternoons spent running through the sprinkler, topped off with popsicles and hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill.

I’ve lived in a lot of places in my life, but for almost nine years, Bedford has been our home. It’s the kind of town where you not only see friends and teachers and neighbors at the town parade, but you see them marching in it, and then you’ll see them at the grocery store or at the ice cream stand that same afternoon. They’re the same people that you see at a yoga class, or at church, or that you stand side by side with as you scoop out slushies on Bedford Day to raise money for the PTA.

If we had a mayor and they’d give me the job, I’d take it.

When I drive the kids to school, I see the Bedford librarian walking to work. I can watch the 5^th grade talent show on the town cable channel if I want to. On Christmas Eve, thanks to the Bedford Santa program, Santa comes to our house to give a gift to each of our kids. My son plays baseball and his best friend’s dad is the coach. On Patriot’s Day last month, we got up before dawn to see hundreds of volunteers re-enact an amazing part of American history. And then we went out for pancakes and to the Lexington parade (and of course I saw a fellow member of the PTA marching as a member of the militia).

On Saturday nights we sometimes grab dinner at Mario’s in Lexington Center or at Helen’s in Concord Center. On rainy days we’ll head into Boston to the Museum of Science and on summer weekends we may take a ride up north to get seafood. Last month I took my mother- in-law to see “Singing in the Rain” at the Emerson Umbrella Theater in Concord.  And just this weekend we walked in the local Relay for Life event to help raise money for cancer. Many of us in town walked in memory of a wonderful little boy that is dearly missed.

We live in this small town (which has the oldest known surviving intact battle flag in the United State, by the way) that offers so much, yet it’s also a stone’s throw from the job opportunities and the medical care and the history that make it….well, like I said, I’d be the mayor if they let me.

Next year will be a big change with both of our kids in elementary school, and we’re even talking about moving to a bigger home so that we can have a big rec room for the kids and their friends, and more room for our new big screen TV and Wii (and our ever-growing collection of Star Wars toys and sports equipment). I’d also love to have a proper guest room for my parents who come up from Texas for a few weeks a year to escape the heat and spoil their grandkids (which we openly allow).

We don’t know exactly what we’ll do, but we do know we’ve spent many years putting down roots in a place that from day one, has actually always felt like home…

Coming next…Why I Live Here: Oh Those New England Summers!