It's Good to Be An Inglewood Mom

By: Sonia Taylor Crichton

If you had asked me a year ago if I would enjoy my maternity leave, you might have gotten a snicker from me as the idea of having to go on maternity was a completely foreign concept. I have been a career woman for a long time as well as an Inglewooder for the last nine years. My husband and I started out as "D.I.N.K.'s" when we moved here 9 years ago. Yes, that's right, we had dual income and no kids. Then we got our beloved pug 'Dezzy' - and we graduated to "D.I.L.D.O's" - Dual Income Little Dog Only. Deciding that such embarassing acronyms didn't sit well with our demographic profile, it was time to think about children, and in February we had our beautiful son Lachlan. So life has changed a little. As soon as we knew we were pregnant our first thoughts were - 'we have to sell our condo' (that we have loved so much) and move out to the suburbs. Once our son arrived, we realized that the idea of selling our place was actually making us miserable. We kept thinking to ourselves; people raise children within inner city communities in Europe every day, why couldn't we do that here? Who says you actually need 2500 sq. ft to raise a child? We wanted a real sense of community for our son.

One might think that the idea of a true inner city community is a bit of an urban myth. However, Inglewood is a true inner city community, where complete strangers actually talk to you and the local 9th Ave. walkable community really is our epicentre to connect with our neighbours. Our condo complex for example, usually has a summer party every year with bands that play fantastic music, organized by our talented neighbour Andrew. Everyone brings food and we sit around and get to soak in this amazing entertainment on one of the many sunny evenings in Calgary. Okay, maybe I can't enjoy as many beer as I used to but it is still so great to know that our neighbours look out for us and if I really do need that cup of sugar, I can run right next door.

My son is soaking all of this in and he is becoming an Inglewooder himself. He is starting to see Spolumbo's, Cherry Four, Bite, Adorn and even the Hose and Hound as landmarks of his neighbourhood in his daily travels as we walk around Inglewood. The Zoo is pretty much just around the corner from our home and makes for an excellent walk whether the day is brisk or sunny. On a brisk day we will stop in at Nectar and warm up with their ultimate hot chocolate while nibbling on a mouth watering desert. On a hot day, a beer and some wings can be enjoyed upstairs even with Infant in tow. The authentic charm of the old No. 3 firehall must be lots of fun for our little guy to take in while we socialize. At the same time we are a 6 minute (I have counted in heavy traffic) drive to the Talisman centre for those torturous mommy and baby exercise classes. I say torturous as my son gets to sit in his stroller and coo, while his mom pours sweat carrying an old fire hose around the gym...working off those beers and wings enjoyed at the old firehall. Somehow I think the irony of reversed application of location has not been lost on my son.

In my job, I had planned every day of my life so those skills have come in handy as a mom. My son is a product of a "type A" planner so with his regular 3 hour feed times I actually get to enjoy our Inglewood immensely. As a mom you can really see how Inglewood has blossomed into a culturally rich community with a lot of access to stimulating people, services and food. I didn't notice this so much when I was working. My office at West Canadian is actually down the street from my home too, so you can imagine that they are probably sick of me popping by to let them know how much fun I'm having on a sunny Wednesday afternoon.

All in all, Inglewood is making it good to be mom and if you see me on the sidewalk be sure to say hi.