About a year and a half ago, my wife and I made the decision to move from our beloved Dorchester condo to a house up on the North Shore. With a baby on the way, we wanted a home with a little more space, a yard, and some privacy from our neighbors (more for them than for us, given the many late nights with a crying baby ahead!). We love our new house and neighborhood, but there are certainly some things we really miss about living in the city. If you live in Boston, don’t take these for granted! 

• Proximity to great food. While there are a lot of good restaurants and coffee shops in the suburbs, it’s no match for the food options in Boston! I especially miss Molinari’s, Greenhills Bakery, and American Provisions in our old neighborhood. 

• Easy Uber access everywhere. Living in Dorchester, it felt like everything was within a 20-minute Uber ride, and getting to any corner of the city was a breeze. Those days are in the rearview, and I miss that ease of access! 

• Neighborhood connections. There was always so much activity in our neighborhood, especially around holidays like Halloween. It was so fun to see the crowds of trick or treaters each year and hang out with our neighbors on our front stoop. And when big snowstorms blew in, you knew you were about to get some quality time with the guys next door while shoveling out your car. 

• Walkability. Nothing beats having a coffee shop or a bar within a 10-minute walk, and in Dorchester, we had a ton of great places to choose from. These days things are so much more car focused, which is fine, but it’s tough to beat being able to take an evening stroll to Lucy’s or Dorset Hall! 

• Being able to say I lived in Boston. There was something nice about being able to say I lived in Boston, without any caveats like “just outside of the city” or “in the Boston area.” Sure, I wasn’t OFD, but I was still lucky to have Dorchester as my adopted home, and it will always have a special place in my heart.