East District

We live in the East District. It's not the worst part of the city, but the section we live in is pretty close.  It's the sort of area that when someone asks where you live and you tell them, they have this confused look on their face. As though they are thinking, "Why would a nice family like you live in an area like that?"

We are nestled right up against Downtown which is right beside District One, the only two areas in the city with cheaper housing than ours. Yes, crime happens everywhere but when you're living in a city that has some of the highest murders and crimes rates in the country, you find that there is a large concentrated pocket of people who can't break the cycles.

I had thought that living in this area would be much worse. I thought I would see more than I have. Don't get me wrong, we've had our vehicle broken into, tires slashed, teens doing drugs on our property, domestic disputes, children running wild, drunks wandering the sidewalks, but they've been few and far between considering it's been over the span of a few years. If we were in District One, all of this would be the norm.

I like our house. We bought a 'fixer-upper' and there is still tons of work to do on the place, but it's served us well. It's got the right amount of space, the right amount of yard and the right amount of fence (!!) but now that The Boy is in the community school and Blue will be seeing the city from a different perspective, I'm left wondering if we might just change our minds.