Welcome back to IComLeavWe. It stands for International Comment Leaving Week, but if you say it aloud, doesn’t it sounds like “I come; [but] leave [as a] we”? And that’s sort of the point. Blogging is a conversation and comments should be honoured and encouraged. I like to say that comments are the new hug–a way of saying hello, giving comfort, leaving congratulations.

Here is the vital information, pure and simple (a more detailed set of rules follows below the list):

• The list opens the 1st of every month. It remains open until the 21st. You can add yourself at any point. The list is open to everyone in the blogosphere–blog writers and/or blog readers.
• Add yourself to the list by filling out this form: The list is closed for March.  The April list will go up on the 30th.
• Click here to cut-and-paste this bit of code to add to your sidebar (if you have the old code from another month, remove it and replace it with this one). You need to add the icon or a link to the current list on your blog (see below) and will not be added until it’s up.
• Commenting kicks off every month on the 21st. Please mark it somewhere (calendar, post-it note taped to your computer…), though I will be sending out an email reminder on the 20th. Commenting week runs from the 21st to the 28th. Every day, leave 5 comments and return 1 comment for a total of 6 comments. You are highly encouraged to choose the blogs you comment on from the participants list below, but this is not required.
• I will send a second email on the 28th to remind you to remove the icon from your blog.
• Read below if you want to find out about Iron Commenters.
• The commenting ends on the 28th. We catch our breath and the whole thing starts again the next month on the 1st. Drop in and out according to what is happening in your life between the 21st and the 28th.

1. Stirrup Queens (twins, books, writing)
2. Hobbit-ish Thoughts & Ramblings (ttc after losses, books, cooking)
3. In Due Time (infertility, pcos, life)
4. Waiting for Sunflower (pregnancy, gestational diabetes, infertility)
5. All Aboard the Pity Boat (infertility, exercise, life)
6. ErnieGirl is TTC (undiagnosed infertility condition)
7. Our Surrogacy Adventure (surrogacy, donor eggs, pcos)
8. Blogging MoRe (love, marriage, friendship)
9. Sparkly Things Distract Me (donor embryos, 40+, stuff)
10. Wishing4One (IVF, Egypt, life)
11. Baby On Mind (IVF, ttc#1, unexplained)
12. No Suzy Homemaker (family, babyloss, life)
13. Hopelessly TTC (MFI, azoospermia, guy’s perspective)
14. Everyone Else But Me (icsi, FET, hysteroscopy)
15. Your Great Life (fertility coaching, women, self-belief)
16. Infertility And Me (male factor infertility)
17. Blurbs by Jennifer (kids, work, life)
18. The Egg Drop Post (infertility, adoption, spirituality)
19. Parenthood for Me (infertility, adoption, coping)
20. Journey to the End of the Rainbow (acupuncture, IVF, infertility)
21. Journey Through Infertility and TTC (pregnancy, family, baby)
22. Holy Moly Toledo(s)! (twins, infertility, life rambles)
23. Letters to My Unborn Child (love, baby, waiting)
24. Our Journey, but Not Our Plan… (adoption, iui, m/c)
25. Paisley Blooms (someday) (infertility, ttc, life)
26. My Ordinary Miracles (parenting, twins, toddler)
27. Thoughts from A Blonde (infertility, family, life)
28. Our Incredible Journey (adoption, special needs)
29. Baby Magnesi (ttc, infertility, family)
30. Dragondreamer’s Lair (parenting, secondary infertility, crafts)
31. Woman Anyone? (unexplained IF, primary sub-fertility, blah advice)
32. Baby Dreams (ttc #2 with pcos, infertility, life)
33. Life with Endometriosis and PCOS (pcos, endo, waiting)
34. PandaBox33’s Blog (love, life, everything)
35. Half as Many Chances (infertility, hypothalamic amenorrhea)
36. The Subfertile Frugalista (pg after loss, shopping, frugal musings)
37. The Road Less Traveled (infertility, IVF, pregnancy)
38. The Birds and the Bees (ivf, infertility, unexplained)
39. My Infertility Woes (ttc, spirituality, life)
40. Tenaciously TTC (secondary infertility, loss, FET)
41. Not The Path I Chose (RPL, IVF, pregnant with twins)
42. A Virtual Hobby Store and Coffee Shop (news, books, music)
43. Creating a Family (adoption, infertility, adoptive parenting)
44. The Barreness’s Blog (parenting after infertility)
45. The Bushey Life (ttc, life, infertility)
46. Exploring Chaos (baby after IF, weightloss, life)
47. Write, Baby, Repeat (adoption, infertility, writing)
48. My Life’s Journey (infertility, miscarriage, loss)
49. All My Peccadilloes (recovery, loss, waiting)
50. Infertile Myrtle (parenting after infertility)
51. A Half Baked Life (food, workingmomhood, infertility)
52. Oh Sanity, Wherefore art Thou? (parenting after IF/loss, life, random)
53. Mindful Meandering (adoption, infertility, parenting)
54. Communique (life, infertility, ivf)
55. The Babbling Bitter Bitch (humor, clomid, secondary infertility)
56. Hopes and Dreams for Us (childfree living, life, cooking)
57. For the Love of Shoes…and a Baby, Too (ivf, infertility, everyday life)
58. My Lovely Lady Bump (ttc, charting, pregnancy)
59. Wheresmy2lines (repeat ivf’s, pcos, life)
60. Return to Innocence (PPD, IF, recovery)
61. Infertility: The (Type A) Nightmare (infertility, taking a break, IUI)
62. Inconceivable! (ttc, infertility, family)
63. The (In)fertility Diaries (new IF, TTC, life)
64. A Greater Yes (infertility, embryo adoption, pregnancy)
65. Putting the Fun in Infertility (cancer, ivf, icsi)
66. It Only Takes One Time…Not! (MFI, IVF-ICSI, pregnancy)
67. Not a Fertile Myrtle (mfi, pcos, endometriosis)
68. Wistfulgirl’s World (PCOS, ttc, life)
69. Determined to have joy (infertility, inspiration, life)
70. We Got Hitched. We bought the 4 bedroom house. Now what??? (twin pregnancy, recurrent loss, randomness)
71. Riding the IVF Roller Coaster (ivf, stress, miscarriage)
72. Fertility Chick (infertility, humour, pcos)
73. In The Name of the Father (male infertility, humour, male perspective)
74. And Baby Would Make 3! (ttc, pcos, clomid)
75. AnxiousMummy (IUI, TTC, ectopic)
76. A + B, Waiting for C (IUI, waiting, distractions)
77. Through The Eyes Of a Stranger (infertility, anything, adoption)
78. Find Joy Now (humor, life, what now?)
79. Such A Good Egg (1st-time-IUIer, distractions, excited)
80. fickleinpink, the dark side (relationship meme life)
81. My Walking Path (nature, writing, photos)
82. The Yerkes Life~Learning to Embrace God’s Plans (ivf, faith, family)
83. Are We There Yet (fibroid free, IVF abroad, Hungary)
84. Evolutionary Dead End? (ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, ttc after loss)
85. Praying for a Family (pcos, bitterness, fostering)
86. Once an Infertile (septated uterus, endo, IF struggles)
87. Wait, What? (unexplained, IVF, pop-culture)
88. Big Belly or Bust (miscarriage, TTC, exercise)
89. The Pregnant Yuppy (infertility, ttc, miscarriage)
90. Venting Vagina (FET, acupuncture, LOL)
91. Raising Miles (parenting after IF, baking, randomness)
92. Cape Girl’s Journey (stillbirth, inferility, IVF)
93. chrissy (infertility, adoption, openness)
94. Raining Raining (fost/adopt, life, fertility)
95. The Fiegels (life, infant son, toddler son)
96. Knock Me Up, Doc (fertility shots, infertility)
97. A Woman My Age (adoption, infertility, parenting after 40)
98. On Tap for Today (life, humor, Boston)
99. Living With PCOS (ttc, secondary infertility, pcos)
100. The Gal Who Wants to be Anywhere But Where She Is (longterm infertility loss)
101. Impatiently Waiting for a Baby (ivf, condo, injections)
102. Tammy’s Journey (donor embryos, Christian, family)
103. The Pitter-Patter (pregnancy, marrakech, life)
104. My Basic World (miscarriage, unexplained, IVF#1)
105. Hope for Healing (endometriosis, pcos, chronic pelvic pain)
106. Adventures in Glass (twin pregnancy after IVF, life)
107. Trying Not to Scream (iui, infertility, life)
108. Alex’s Adventures (infertility, decisions, hope)
109. In the Middle with You (infertility, loss, life)
110. Being Joyful Always (infertility, weight loss, healthy eating)
111. I Will Be A Mom … Someday (infertility, faith, hope)
112. That’s My Answer (question of the day, fun, life)
113. Outside My Head (life, motherhood, photos)
114. Pollination Chronicles (MFI, fertilization defect, ICSI)
115. My Glass Case of Emotion (infertility, loss, IVF)
116. Busted Plumbing (pcos, ttc, awesomeness)
117. Houston, We Have a Problem (secondary infertility, life)
118. Oven Seeking Bun (pcos, follistim, yoga)
119. Junebug’s Musings (IF, angst, hodgepodge)
120. Hope in Virginia (pregnancy after IVF)
121. Her Womb, Our Hearts (domestic infant adoption, army wife, faith)
122. My Infertility Diaries (infertility marriage grief)
123. The Conceivable Future (RPL, infertility, IVF)
124. The Sun’ll Come Out Tomorrow (I Hope) (recurrent loss, hope, marriage)
125. Overcoming Obstickles (infertility, acupuncture, clomid)
126. A Tale (of the Trials and Tribulations) of Trying (pregnancy, anxiety and depression, pregnancy loss)
127. Fearlessly Infertile (IVF, miscarriage, military)
128. CD1 Again (clomid, infertility, life)
129. Romancing the Stone (pregnancy, love, ivf after 40)
130. Hoping For Another Little One (ttc#2, iui, family)
131. Twists of Fate (pregnancy after loss)
132. Mommy In Waiting (azoospermia, infertility, ttc)
133. Ready To Be A Mom (infertility, ivf, hope)
134. My So-Called Life (mthfr, pcos, chemistry)
135. My Elusive Baby (infertility, treatments, uncertainty)
136. Hope in Briarrose (pregnancy, life in general, gestational diabetes)
137. IF In Big Sky Country (pregnancy, infertility, life)
138. Body Diaries by Lucy (pregnancy, pcos, if)
139. Off to See the Wizard (secondary IF, IVF, ectopic)
140. Random Thoughts from Angie (ttc, life, family)
141. My Stories: An IFer’s blog (IUI #3, unexplained infertility, life)
142. Inconceivable?! (IVF, NOA, life)
143. The Unfair Struggle (male-factor, life, speedskating)
144. Partners In Crime (twins, humour, life)
145. The Road Worth Traveling (pregnancy, fitness, life)
146. Heeeeere Storkey, Storkey! (twins, life, ttc #3)
147. The Journey of Life (pregnancy, infertility, life)
148. The Adventures of a New Mom (baby, recipes, stories)
149. Life and Love in the Petri Dish (humor, hope (after 5 miscarriages), IVF #6 (in progress))
150. Our Journey (life, ttc, hardship)
151. The Turning Of Paige (infertility, teaching, weight loss)
152. The Buonanno Family (children, life, family)
153. The list is closed for March.  The April list will go up on the 30th.

Q: What if I miss a day?
A: Catch up the next day by doubling your comments–12 comments instead of 6.

Q: What is an Iron Commenter?
A: Not for the faint-of-heart. People who wish to be an Iron Commenter and be entered on the Iron Commenter honour roll need to leave a comment on every blog on the participants list (exceptions are blogs that require you to have a special log-in, such as some LiveJournal accounts or other similar situations). You can spread out this commenting any way you wish over the whole week, but the final comment needs to be left by midnight on the 28th (EST). Reaching Iron Commenter status is done on an honour system. Please email me if you earn Iron Commenter status so I can add you to the wall of honour.

Q: Why do I have to add that bit of code to my sidebar?
A: The code is the latest icon (the icon changes colour every month so you know that you’re on the right list). This month, the icon is green, the next month it will be yellow, etc. The reason is two-fold: (1) it enables more people to find out about IComLeavWe and (2) it gives you easy access to the current list once the commenting week actually begins and better ensures that you’ll use it. Too many times, people sign up and forget to actually do IComLeavWe and this icon gives you a daily reminder (with the dates on it) every time you open your own blog. The icon is linked back to the current list. On the 28th, remove the icon from your blog. A new one will be created for the next month.

Q: It’s the 23rd and I just saw this for the first time on my friend’s blog! I want to join the list–why can’t I?
A: Because IComLeavWe happens every month, once the list is closed, it’s closed. If you’re finding out about this on the 23rd, you can’t join the current month. But leave yourself a note to check back in a week on the 1st and you can sign up for the next month.

Q: You said the list closes on the 21st. Well, it’s still the 21st where I am. Why aren’t you moving my information onto the list?
A: All dates and times are U.S. Eastern Standard Time (UTC/GMT -5 hours).

Q: What if no one comments on my blog and I have no comments to return?
A: Well, that really doesn’t happen for the most part, but in that case, simply choose another blog and add an additional comment. The goal is to hit 6 comments daily as a minimum. Going over that is fantastic and encouraged.

Q: Mel, my question wasn’t covered at all. What do I do?
A: Email me; I’m quite friendly. It helps to place “IComLeavWe” in the subject line. You could also check this post which contains the history of IComLeavWe and see if you can glean anything there.

Looking for the comment section? It has been closed on this post. Use the form in the directions to add yourself to the list.

BlogHer had a good post this week on publishing full or partial feeds.  I obviously publish a partial feed now.  Posting a full feed wasn’t a problem for the first few years of this blog, back when the blogroll was small and traffic was under 1000 visitors per day.  I posted a full feed because I know it’s more convenient for those who use a feed aggregator to read blogs.  Hell, I prefer full feeds–they are certainly easier.

About two years ago, spammers started to lift posts from my blog using the full rss feed.  In other words, I’d post on Stirrup Queens, and because people had set up my feed to run on a spam blog, it would appear there too.  Annoying, right?  Except it turned into a larger problem, namely, that if someone searched for “endometrial biopsy” in Google, the first page showed Stirrup Queens and a bunch of spam blogs.  Making the informative post that Carolyn wrote look less legitimate because it was appearing here and on spam blogs, and also pushing any real blogs off the front page of Google, so no one could find your post about your endometrial biopsy.

But this wasn’t the only problem–I link to people a lot, both through the weekly Roundup and random posts.  The entire LFCA is a flow of links out to other blogs.  And the blogs I was linking to were also getting picked up by the spammers.  Which is why you may notice that I try not to link to external blogs in my first paragraph, the one that shows up in the feed.  That way, I protect your blog as I protect mine.

So, that’s the reason why I have a super annoying partial feed, a solution that I picked up at BlogHer.  And I am grateful that you still read me with this pain-in-the-assiness between us, but it has curbed a lot of the spammers because they’re just not as interested in partial feeds (which is not to say that the partial feed doesn’t show up places too, but you now need to get to the 4th page in a Google search to see them).  And it helps keep the useful information that appears in posts such as Operation Heads Up useful.

I know there are some people who emphatically state that they won’t read blogs that publish a partial feed, and that’s totally within their right.  I personally don’t care whether the person publishes a full feed or a partial feed, though I have to admit that I rarely read a blog post if I can’t see the first few lines (as in, only the title or a quote from the middle of the post is published in the feed) mostly because it feels like wasted time.  I don’t mind starting to read the post in the Reader and then continuing on the blog, but I hate reading a summary of what I’m about to read.  See, we all have our little preferences.  And I also prefer cooking blogs to truncate their feeds.  I have one that I read and if I want to skip to the next post because I don’t like the recipe, I have to scroll through 30 pictures to get to the next post.

*******

Weebles Wobblog has opened up her annual limerick contest and these are my submissions (post your own entries on your blog and enter by March 1st):

There once was a Dragondreamer
Who was quite the post weaver
She contemplated UFOs
And crocheted hats with bows
And nothing ever seemed to peeve her.

Lindsay, obsessed with her Greys
Could sit on the sofa for days
And stare at McDreamy
Without getting screamy
Though Patrick makes it hard to behave

I wish I could enter more than two because I think these will really make my MFA program proud that they gave me that degree.

*******

The Weekly What If: what if you had a monitor in your house that could tell you as you woke up whether you would have a good day or a bad day before you ever left the house (it has been programmed to know your view of “good” or “bad” so you would always agree with the machine by the end of the day).  Would you want to know?  Would it be worse to know you are going to have a crap day and have to get through it or would it be better to know that it’s going to be terrible and not deal with anxiety all day?

*******

The food store was sold out of our usual brand of chips–Route 11 potato chips–so I went to buy a bag of Kettle Chips, knowing that they’re pretty similar and saw that they were now making a baked version.  I’m usually not a fan of baked chips simply because they don’t look like they are made out of potatoes.  But something told me that it would be a good idea to buy a bag.

Holy McShittersteins, these were the best fucking chips I have ever had.

I got the salt and vinegar ones, which were so insanely good, I could have finished the whole bag standing up in the kitchen.  They look like real slices of potato–like a normal chip–as opposed to the baked ones I’ve had before that look like freeze dried…something.  My only complaint is that there is no sour cream and chive flavour in the baked version.  The lesson learned is that impulse purchases can sometimes be a very good thing.

*******

And now, the blogs…

Holy Moly Toledo(s)! has a post about a radio show discussing Nadya Suleman.  Balancing both sides of the issue, Soo.See points out that there are no free rides when judging another person.  That attempting to reach parenthood in one person isn’t noble and foolish in another.  Because like so many other things, it’s a slippery slope once we start judging another person’s decisions.  I like this post because it neither condemns nor celebrates Suleman, but instead simply asks people to think before throwing stones.

Four of a Kind has a post about being finished with having children.  Once they receives news about the chance of having another child with the same medical conditions as Molly, they make a soft decision to end family building, but she states: “That said, it is one thing to come to that decision on our own and felt very different to me last week when I was under the impression that someone else, the Pediatric Geneticist, was discouraging us from going down that road again.”  I love the end of the post, bringing together the concept of the alpha and the omega.  It’s just a gorgeous read.

Creating Motherhood has a post about making a wish.  It’s a tiny, beautiful post, and you will laugh by the time you hit the last line.

Dreaming of Quiet Places has two letters that she needs to write (and not send) to her ex-husband; one stating the things she misses about him and one to vent her anger.  It is a powerful post, dissecting the ending of a marriage, yanking up memories from deep wells of hurt.  It is cathartic to read on her behalf; I can’t imagine how cathartic it was to write it and get it out of her head and heart.

Lastly, IF Optimist, then… has a post about the overwhelming fears she has during pregnancy.  She admits, “Now I feel their presence, they are tangible in a new way that my heart cannot describe.  The thought of losing it all fills me with dread.”  It is the last paragraph that speaks so loudly to me, that is familiar and makes my heart race just from the memory of it.  And my only advice, since she asks for it, is through it.  Is just wading through and feeling what you need to feel.  Because denying those feelings don’t make them disappear.  So talk them out, writes them out, and watch the clock if it brings even a minute of comfort.

The roundup to the Roundup: why I have a partial feed.  Limericks!  Answer the Weekly What If.  I love baked Kettle Chips.  And lots of great blog posts to read.

My first loss happened on the Fast of Esther, which is traditionally the day before Purim, but on years where Purim falls right after Shabbat, the fast is held on a Thursday.  As in, today.

I wrote about it over here and would love it if you read it in order to understand the rest of this post.

This morning, it occurred to me that even though I ran to the food store two times yesterday, I forgot to pick up a chocolate Yoohoo.  It’s what I drank to break the fast that occurred after my first loss, and as a nod to that baby-that-wasn’t I usually break all subsequent Fast of Esthers with a chocolate Yoohoo too.  I am, if nothing else, a creature of habit and traditions.

I am only fasting today while the house is quiet.  The point of fasting in Judaism is to turn the person inward and use the lack of consumption as a focusing point.  There are no points for simply denying yourself food.  So once the ability to think is gone, replaced by the noise that comes from the twins-that-are, I will sit down and have lunch with them.

I wondered whether or not to blog right now, but this is one of my quiet, contemplative spaces.  The thoughts, I decided, don’t have to solely occur in my head and this is as much meditation as what occurs when I’m running or sitting on the sofa.

This holiday is–at its core–about courage.  I think it takes a lot of bravery to go through infertility or loss; regardless of the actions of family building that stem from infertility or loss.  I don’t want this misunderstood that I’m saying that fertility treatments are brave or adoption is brave.  I mean, yes, they are, but they’re besides the point today.

I think it’s brave to put your heart out there, to want something so badly, to allow your entire being to get wrapped up in the potential life of another person.  If we make that leap to love a partner or family member or friend, we do so knowing that person, having met them, knowing our compatibility or history.  But when we put our entire heart into the idea of a child, we do that bravely.  Without answers or information or sometimes even a true understanding of what it will be like to parent.  It’s the difference between walking into a lit or dark room.  It’s not amazing that I would go to the ends of the earth for Josh; but I do find it brave to go to the ends of the earth for someone you haven’t met yet.

For everyone who has put their heart into the unknown, have left it there for months or years, not knowing if it would ever return back to your body in the form of your wish, I am thinking about you today.  I am thinking about myself.

And now, I’m going to go have a good cry in the shower.  Which is sometimes better than a chocolate Yoohoo.

Show and Tell is wasted on elementary schoolers. Join several dozen bloggers weekly to show off an item, tell a story, and get the attention of the class. In other words, this is Show and Tell 2.0. Everyone is welcome to join, even if you have never posted before and just found out about Show and Tell for the first time today. So yank out a photo of the worst bridesmaid’s dress you ever wore and tell us the story; show off the homemade soup you cooked last night; or tell us all about the scarf you made for your first knitting project. Details on how to participate are located at the bottom of this post.

Let’s begin.

On Tuesday, I went into the post office to mail my first batch of mishloach manot and I brought the postal workers their annual basket of cookies and candies.  I asked if Joel was working because I knew he always looked forward to the hamantaschen and had asked back in January if it was getting close to Purim.  “He retired,” the postal worker admitted.  “Two weeks ago.”

She pointed out that even the retired still have to pick up their daily mail, so she put the hamantaschen in his mailbox.  But it really blew my mind that he wouldn’t be there anymore when I came in to pick up my mail or send a package.  I don’t have a picture of Joel, so this rendering in Microsoft Paint will have to suffice.

Just to let you know the sort of guy Joel is, when we did the March of Dimes walk and wore the Team Lennox and  Zoë t-shirts, I went to mail them (after I washed them, after I washed them; I want it noted that I did not send Allison skanky shirts) and told Joel how special and irreplaceable they were and he left his station to walk them through the whole mailing process in the backroom and place them directly on the mail truck so he could promise me that the package didn’t get lost on its way out of the facility.  How many people would do that?  He would tell me dirty Tiger Woods jokes when I came in to get my mail.  He would give me extra boxes to fill at home so I didn’t have to package things at the post office.  And he always gave me free tape from his stash of post office tape even though I was supposed to bring my own adhesive.

He was a great postal worker and I’m sorry that he won’t be there in the morning anymore when I go to pick up my mail, but I hope he enjoys retirement and does fantastic things and still gets to enjoy the hamantaschen when he comes to pick up his own letters.

What are you showing today?

Click here or scroll down to the bottom of this post if this is your first time joining along (Important: link to the permalink for the post, not the main url for your blog and use your blog’s name, not your name. Links not going to a Show and Tell post will be deleted). The list is open from now until late Friday night and a new one is posted every week.

Like most Americans, I have seen or read Our Town on at least fifty-three occasions (it seems to be a rite of passage to sniffle through Emily Webb’s ghost visit after she dies in childbirth.  WAIT–dies in childbirth–doesn’t that feel like it should be a deterrent to teen sex in the same vein of Scared Straight?  Why did we all have sex after reading that play?).  I realized as I walked through Shepherdstown how much an impact the words of that play had on what mentally shaped my ideal town.

Not the milkman or the church or even the high school sweethearts who grow up to marry one another–more the idea of community, the pace, the talking by the fence, knowing people for your entire life.  From birth to death.

I think it’s the reason I’m drawn to Smith Island, drawn to Chincoteague or Shelburne Falls or Montague.  Because they’re small towns where families stay for generations and whatever drawbacks that closeness can bring, it also brings with it an element of safety and belonging.

Josh is a city person and he really misses living downtown.  It was a major concession to live out here in our small town, which isn’t nearly small enough for my tastes.  I don’t love where we live, but it’s as close as I can get to a small town without dragging Josh even further from the city.

If I could build my ideal town it would be…

• a college town which would (1) give me a place to work and (2) attract speakers and fine arts performances.  Though it would be a somewhat cloistered campus, where we could get in, but the college kids couldn’t get out to pee on our lawn after their keggers.
• a beach town where the beach is separate from the commercial area.
• flat and easily bike-able, with good bike lanes that have a bit of a barrier from the cars.
• a state-of-the-art medical facility with hospital and fertility clinic.
• a view of a body of water from our home.
• children’s museum in town with a cafe on the main level.
• a community center with classes.
• bookstore and coffeehouse.
• large, varied food store with a built-in pharmacy.
• restaurants: pizza place, vegetarian sandwich shop, pan-Asian, and a burrito place.
• library with free internet service that lends books, music, and movies.
• cooking supply store and fabric/craft store.
• a movie theater that also has the ability to do live shows.
• sizable Jewish population, but only one shul for each denomination.  A kosher butcher in town and a mikveh.
• a single campus for the elementary, middle, and high school that serves as a focal point for the whole community.

Are you a city person, a suburb person, a rural person, a small town person, or…something else entirely?  And do you already live in the type of area that suits you, or are you really a city person trapped in a small town?

What are five things that would be in your hypothetical ideal town?