Moving Down the "Ladder of Success"

A couple weeks ago, I made a comment to Josh about how I have "moved down" in the world over the past few years, specifically in regards to where I live. It was a random thought, brought about by an email from a friend who's moving from one of Philadelphia's "up and coming" neighborhoods (you know, one of the ones with a lot of young professionals, restaurants and bars, and hipster hangout places) to the downtown area of Philadelphia, known as "Center City" (which is the place to live). There's nothing unusual about that... people move all the time. It's just that in that moment, I realized I've gone backwards in regards to what most of the world sees as a "successful progression."

When I first moved to Philadelphia, I lived with two other Teach For America girls in the art museum neighborhood of Philly. It's very similar to what I described above: up and coming (it's experienced major gentrification in the past 10 years), with lots of young professionals, established families who want to be in the city, and cool and swanky places to eat and hang out. It's right by Boathouse Row and the Schuylkill River/Kelly Drive (a great place to go for walks/runs/picnics), and not too far at all from downtown (I sometimes used to take runs or even just walk downtown from where I lived).

My second year in Philly, instead of staying where I was or moving somewhere nicer, I moved to a more working-class neighborhood much farther from downtown. There were a lot more families with kids who wanted yards and a "safer" place to play outside, but who couldn't necessarily afford to move to the suburbs. Most people had steady, reliable jobs, but not necessarily jobs that brought in huge amounts of money. There were a lot of blue-collar workers and immigrant families. It was definitely not as hip as my first neighborhood, nor as expensive, but it was still pretty comfortable living.

Then came my third year in Philly, and that whole getting married thing and finding a place for Josh and I to move into. At that point, Josh had already been living in the neighborhood where our church was for 2 years, and we decided to stay in the neighborhood if we could find something close to our church. We did, and it was then that I made my next move "down the ladder". To put it into perspective, two quick stories. First: we live in a neighborhood that most people would say you should never go to. I had friends who didn't want to drop me off at Josh's old house because they were so afraid something would happen. Second: when one of my sisters visited Philly in the summer of '08 to help me move in (since I'd just spent 4 days in the hospital), when we turned into our neighborhood (onto the street our street is off of), she said she felt like she'd just traveled to a third-world country. North Philly is just not one of those places you're supposed to move to if you have any option to live anywhere else.

And yet, over the past year, I've really come to love it.

I love being near our church, I love having numerous friends and people from church within walking distance (many within 2 blocks), and I love our street. It was a different story for me when we first moved in, especially when within a month of moving in there was a shooting at the opposite end of our block. I was sometimes scared and uncomfortable, but this place has grown on me. Even as I've moved progressively farther and farther away from what society would deem a "successful" life path, I'm more and more convinced that I'm where I need to be. Where we live now, our lives are on full display, the good and the bad. Privacy is not often come by. Life's joys are evident... as are struggles and sin. The corner store is a well-known place for dealing drugs, you hear major yelling matches/fights on the street at least once every few days, and no matter how many times we pick up our front "yard" (i.e. our 2'x4' patch of weeds), we'll have more trash thrown in it within a matter of hours.

But that's just one side of things.

The side most people don't get to see includes things like our neighbor who regularly brings our trash and recycling bins up onto our front porch after trash pick-up each week. Or how everyone you know (even if just by sight or simple greetings) waves hello to you whenever they see you. Or how our block is constantly filled with SO MANY KIDS outside playing and laughing. It's especially these kids that make a difference. Even during the school year, our block is filled with children, running, playing basketball, riding scooters, playing tag, drawing with chalk... you name it, they're doing it. And they LOVE doing any and all of those things with the adults on the block.

This summer, our small group had two VBS evening sessions for the kids in the neighborhood. It was originally supposed to be one, but the first date it had been raining off and on, and so we couldn't do the craft or story we had planned because the ground was too wet. Instead, we just ended up playing games with about 30 kids for over an hour. After that, the kids were constantly asking us when we were doing another VBS. They just wanted to be with us and spend time with us. The second date came a couple weeks later, right after Josh and I got back from Seattle. Since I had my new camera, I took a few shots (though it was getting dark, so they're somewhat grainy and blurry... not quite sure how to take photos post-dusk yet). But take a look and see where my backwards success has landed me...

I might not always like it, and that desire for privilege can rise up making me wish that I lived closer to things like a bookstore (25 minute drive), or a Starbucks or coffee shop (20 minute drive), or Trader Joe's (30 minute drive), or a nice park to go walking/running/picnic-ing in (20 minute drive)... and yet, looking at these pictures, I am fully confident that I am exactly where I need to be. There's a lot of pain in poverty, but there's also an immense amount of hard core honesty and transparency (something much harder to find in self-sufficient middle and upper-class society), and especially in these kids, there's a true desire to interact and be seen, known, and loved.

So, even though I am working myself continually down the ladder of success, I think I'm going to stick around for a while. I know a lot of people don't "get it"... sometimes I don't, either. I'll readily admit that I struggle with being here at times, and I definitely at times want to live somewhere more "convenient" and comfortable. But I'm where I need to be. Plus, I've still got a whole heck of a lot to learn from my friends and neighbors here in North Philly, so I can't leave just yet. In the meantime, you're more than welcome to come for a visit. We can give you a bed, food, and, if you want, lots of playtime with the kids on the street.