People's District

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Scott – “This is Sabine. She is named after a river in Texas. My family crossed that river over a hundred years ago. Cynthia listened to a Lyle Lovett song, the Texas River Song, and heard the word Sabine and we decided that it would be a beautiful name for our baby. Sabine’s a D.C. girl. However, when she was born, we had some Texas soil sent up and lay it under her so we could say she was born on Texas soil as well. I really love it here and wouldn’t want to move out of the city, unless we go back to Texas.”

Cynthia – “She’s only three-months old, so we are still getting the hang of this whole parenting thing. You know, you have to think ahead for everything, stroller or babybjorn, always decisions to be made. It is very cool to think about raising her here. I would love to raise her in D.C., but there are lots of trade-offs. And, I need to say that having a kid makes me angrier about D.C. not having a vote. I have gotten more galvanized about the issue. It seems so much more appropriate now with a child that we be able to represent ourselves. When we were living together before I was pregnant, we didn’t really pay as much attention to all of the little things and seemingly minor risks. But, once you have a kid, you worry more about everything, especially crime. With Sabine, I get a little more cagey around people. So, there is a give and take, but it is awesome here and when I think of moving to the DC suburbs, it gives me the hives. There is an instant community in this city. It is not like we are living on an acre of land completely disconnected from our neighbors. And, kids who grow up in D.C. have so much more moxy from such an early age. In this city, age three is the new age five. That’s a little bit scary, but it will be nice that our city girl will be more savvy than her suburban friends.”