As I sit here writing this blog post I’m staring at the gigantic Prudential sign in our front yard.
The Sign Is As Tall As I Am.
The Saint Joseph statue we buried the previous time we were selling our house seems to have forgotten how his end of the bargain works because so far, the phone is not ringing.
The listing on the MLS describes our house nearly perfectly, but as I sit here wrapped in Mr. MVP’s afghan, I can’t help but think you cannot love Fairfield until you know about what surrounds it.
Our house, which I call Fairfield, is at the end of a dead end street. Our neighborhood is an extremely family friendly, diverse community where parents often buy homes next door to their grown-up children to watch their grandchildren grow up. Yup, we are old fashioned like that. We had one minor crime in our neighborhood a few years ago when a large deer tried to run through a neighbor’s picture window. The deer got away, but the police did a full investigation. No charges were filed.
Fairfield is lucky enough to have incredibly quiet neighbors to the west. Borgess Health and Fitness Center is just one of our neighbors in the Nazareth complex. Borgess Health is a family friendly gym with an olympic sized swimming pool, therapy pool, full weight training, cardiovascular training and nutrition services. Borgess Health also has physical therapy services right in the same building. From the front door of Fairfield through the shortcut, it takes about three minutes on foot to get to Borgess Health, which means going to the gym has never been so easy.
(http://database.organsociety.org/)
Just past Borgess Health and Fitness Center is Nazareth College and the Sisters of St. Joseph and their campus is beautiful. We usually just walk Blue-Bird around their grounds, but Nazareth also offers a complete host of classes and retreats for the spiritually inclined. The Nazareth College complex also has a United States Post Office which is just five minutes from Fairfield by bicycle.
On the Nazareth College Campus is a hidden nature preserve that is about seven minutes on foot from the front door of Fairfield – Bow In the Clouds Nature Preserve. Team VP had a geocaching adventure at Bow In The Clouds, but most fearless families visit to hike, walk and absorb nature. Bow In the Clouds is a seriously amazing 60 acre natural wonder and it is just minutes from Fairfield.
www.panoramio.com/pianoman4Jesus
To the east of Fairfield, and just one minute away is Spring Valley Park. On cooler days Mr. MVP and I like to ride our bikes around the shorter path near the lake in Spring Valley Park. Spring Valley Park also attracts anglers, runners and families. This park has something for everyone with multiple playgrounds, including one playground that is handicapped accessible.
(www.flikr.com/eridony)
Further to the east, and just three minutes by car is Borgess Medical Center. Borgess is an award winning hospital, including a Primary Stroke Center, one of the best and brightest companies to work for, and they are at the top in cardiac care. I go to Borgess for regular blood draws, but I also utilize their home nursing staff and everyone from their pharmacy staff to their clinical staff is always top notch.
To the south of Fairfield you will find the Eastwood Library, which is about fifteen minutes away by bicycle or four minutes by car. The Eastwood Library is small, but the selection is enormous. They have family story time, a great selection of movies and music and a gigantic children’s library. As a bonus, any book at the main library can be transferred to Eastwood through KPL’s online system and will be waiting for you when you get there.
Fairfield is also just six quick minutes away from downtown Kalamazoo by car, which means there is every opportunities for shopping, eating, movies, concerts, another library and even museums. Kalamazoo has it all from organic restaurants, kid’s museums, gluten free baked goods, food co-ops, movie theaters with restaurants inside of them, live theater, weekly farmer’s markets, and art museums, Kalamazoo covers all the bases.
Autumn At Fairfield
As I wrote before, the only reason we need to move is because Mr. MVP works in East Lansing and after five years a daily commute of three hours is just too much. We really love Fairfield. This is our home, where we spent ten amazing years, and although I know it will be tough I want to hand the keys to another family so they can start their adventure here.
Winter At Fairfield
For now I’ll just be here, under Mr. MVP’s afghan, waiting for my phone to ring.
Spring At Fairfield
Summer At Fairfield
About The Author
Nicole
Member of Team VP, knitter and Mama to Blue and Franks. Life, is bloody good.
