Megan texted me today: "Going to lunch with Kim and Christie. Wish you lived closer so you could come too." I've wished this myself at times. So many of our friends live near our nation's capital that it could be a great place for us to connect with them. Then I think about the ocean at the end of my street, my parents at the end of our block and the traffic up there and reconsider. Seriously, driving in that traffic would make me stabby. You'd see me on the news. I'd be the one making a stabbing motion at other cars.

So as I told Megan, I wish there were a place called AwesomeTown where all of the cool people lived in one place. Since it's my idea, I volunteer to be the mayor of AwesomeTown, but I'll be a good mayor with lots of parades and I'll keep the streets clean and the parks open.

AwesomeTown would indeed be awesome! It would have an urban area and some quiet suburbs with big trees and sidewalks and would be right next to a small farm area with chickens and pigs and cows (don't get me started about my new desire for farm animals at our house). No one would speed and there'd be lots of block parties on the weekend. We'd all be able to watch each other's kids and there'd be one HUGE community center with clean spacious bathrooms and lots of room for racquetball and tennis and swimming.

I guess we'd still have to work, but we'd be able to telecommute or work at the HUGE community center with our friends. There'd be a tasty cafeteria and every day you could pick someone new to lunch with.

And all of you, dear readers, would be welcome in AwesomeTown. Housing rates would be very reasonable and there would be no home owners' association. We'd wouldn't need it since all the residents would automatically be so incredibly cool.

After my little daydream, I wondered how I could create such a place. Physics being what it is, AwesomeTown seems pretty hard to manage. And then I looked around on Facebook and Twitter and my Google Reader and LiveJournal and I realized I've already got a pretty good facsimile of AwesomeTown. And that will do for now.

But we're still totally throwing a block party soon.