I love where I live - the village of Mount Kisco NY.
Especially at this time of year, when the anticipation of surrounding hills covered with masses of autumnal colors brings back memories of not-so-long ago.
I think of when we first moved here, over 12 years ago. That first year was exciting & fun, even with the stress of leaving everything we knew behind. I was ecstatic that we'd moved as our quality of life improved tremendously, but we missed our friends and our old neighborhood in Park Slope where we'd spent the last 13 years.
A year later, in mid-summer, we moved into what is now our home - a townhouse located on the northern end of town (which is not too far from much as our village is only 3.1 square miles.) I spent the rest of the summer unpacking, exploring our new home town and driving down-county 30 miles to hang out with my sister and her kids. We hardly knew anyone in our new town.
That September, our son started kindergarten. I walked him down to the bus stop, watch him get on the bus to start his educational adventure and I went home to "unpack." I opened a box of photo albums and spent the rest of the morning at the kitchen table crying.
The next morning, we took our walk down the hill to the bus stop and (my now friend) "B" said hello and asked me how I was doing. To this day, I will never forget the feeling of warmth that I felt towards her. She introduced me to the rest of the moms and, once my son came home excitedly talking about his new friends, I felt at peace, convinced we were where we needed to be. (As an aside - I helped "B" and her family find a new home a few miles north and still remember the day they moved - I went to check on them and the second we saw each other we immediately started to cry and her husband just rolled his eyes. I still miss her - although we do still see each other, it is not the same as living in the same community.)
Considered to be the commercial hub of Northern Westchester, the "busyness" of Mount Kisco is quickly forgotten the second you cross the border into any of our neighboring towns. One of my favorite things to do was drive my son to school (West Patent Elementary School, which is in the town of Bedford) - even driving over a couple of dirt roads - marveling at beauty of lush trees and bushes turning bright with fall colors. We would pass cows and horses on the way, then turn into the campus of our elementary school - which is all on one level with floor to ceiling windows everywhere you turned. I still see my son's primary school teachers on occasion in town and I think warmly of them all at this time of year. They helped to make my child's life wonderful & fun & (dare I say?) exciting.
I still don't like the feeling of mud under my feet (after all, I am a city girl born and raised) but there is plenty of hard ground beneath my feet and I am (still) convinced I am in heaven.
Copyright(c) 2008 by Sandra Fenton, All Rights Reserved *I Love Where I Live - the Village of Mount Kisco NY*
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