Why We Moved to Pittsburgh, Pt. Deux

Jenn again, for part two of last Sunday's post. Part one gave some background of our journey toward this adventure that we're on known as intentional community. Now, you might ask. . . . what is intentional community? That can mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people. A simple definition would be a group of people who have committed to living certain rhythms of life together. One intentional community might be focused on prayer; members might meet in a coffee house one morning every week to pray together. Another might focus on hospitality and share all their resources so that they might have shelter and food to give to disadvantaged members of their area. An intentional community might be people who live on the same street and decide to share meals together in a regular rhythm. Or, it might be musicians who meet and share music and inspire one another in their creative endeavors. Needless to say, there are a lot of different ways that this can be done and a lot of different purposes for which people choose to live this way.

We have several specific reasons for why we have chosen to live this way, at least for the time being. Of course, we wouldn't be here if intentional community were not something we had been thinking over and considering for a long time, as outlined in the previous post. We want to explore how we might grow and be strengthened in our faith and in ourselves by living closely with other people of faith in commitment to one another: as iron sharpens iron, so we want to be strengthened by the other couples who are here, as well as to discern if this is a way of life we want to continue after this year. Also, we want to use this space as a time to discern future steps for our lives in general. Let me preface what I'm about to say with this: we loved our time in Dallas and daily miss the people who were a part of our lives there. In fact, we may be back one day. . . at this point it's really hard to know. However, we largely felt unfinished during our time there. We moved after our wedding without a real plan. We never intended to settle there (at least not right after our wedding), and therefore kept our costs for our Dallas time pretty low: teeny apartment, no car purchases, no huge commitments. Last year, my job took up practically all of my time, at least at the beginning of the year (although it was a blessing and I could very easily see myself going back into teaching). We didn't know exactly what we were looking for, and in such a place of impermanence we had a hard time imagining our future. In no way were we ready to commit to the usual things that go along with married couples settling in a place. We knew we wanted to explore intentional community, but didn't know what on earth that would like. In order to move forward, we felt the need to launch ourselves into a situation which would allow us to dream and vision about the future, a place unfamiliar to both of us where new doors and ideas might be opened, new dreams awakened. This was very much a move for our strengthening as a couple as much as it was a move to practice living in intentional community. In fact, the two ideas are entwined in my mind. We could think of nothing more beneficial for our marriage than entering into an adventure together that would allow us a prayerful space to consider what we really want our life together to look like.  Free of overwhelming job commitments and in the presence of a community of prayer, we would have more time to determine our next step as well as inertia to propel us forward.

The blessing of it all is that this is already happening. Our short three weeks in Pittsburgh have by no means been perfect. Any major life upheaval causes some serious questioning and brings to the forefront a lot of uncomfortable emotions. There is stress, questioning, anxiety, frustration, fear, getting lost driving ( a lot) that attend moving to a completely new part of the country. But with all the tension of the newness, there are healthy discussions happening that need to take place. The uncomfortableness of uprooting our lives has shaken around some things that need to be shaken around, blown the dust off some old conversations, and allowed us to reach new levels of understanding that we hadn't experienced before. Not to say that this could not have happened had we not moved. However, the quicker we can move to deeper understanding of one another and our goals for the future, rather than continually hitting walls we often hit in communication, the better. This is a pruning time in our lives. We want to do everything we can to intentionally move our marriage forward, rather than to be forever sitting in the ocean, waiting for the waves to pick us up and take us to shore. Amidst all our questions, we are very thankful to be here.

And have I mentioned what an awesome city Pittsburgh is? Seriously. When I told people in Dallas I was moving to the Burgh, I was amazed by the amount of people who literally fawned over the place. Typical reactions: "Oh my gosh. You'll love it." Or "My entire family lives there!" (Really? Who knew??) "It's literally my favorite city in the world." I haven't known too many cities to receive such rave reviews. Before all the adulations from friends, about my only thoughts on the city had been "Steel. Grime. Football team." Now that I'm here, let me attest to the truth of these accolades. Pittsburgh. is. cool. That's all there is to it. Each neighborhood has it's own distinctive character. There are tons of markets, festivals, gatherings that happen all the time. There are several parks within walking distance of our apartment. There are coffee shops and restaurants in abundance that are not a part of a national chain. The mountains are beautiful. Pittsburgh has been rated as one of the top cities for culture junkies. There. are. TREES. Lots of them, tall trees, trees whose branches meet over the roads. . . . . need I go on? We have been here just a short time, but are loving getting to know the place. There is no reason to ever be bored here (unless you wanna be).

Think I'll leave you all with some pictures of a very Pittsburgh outing we had on Tuesday; Primanti Brothers sandwiches and a Pirates game. What's a Primanti Brothers sandwich, you ask?

It's a simple concept, really. Whereas in other sandwich shops you get a sandwich, some fries, some coleslaw, at Primanti's (Pri-MAN-ti's in Pittsburghese), they slop all those ingredients together in between two buns. Pittsburghers are nothing if not efficient.

Now some pictures from PNC park, from a game in which the Pirates destroyed the Braves and we left the game early due to torrential downpours which forced us to sit freezing on a bus which blew cold air onto our soaked skin for a good 45 minutes on the ride home. But hey, the park was beautiful!