Either/Or
"I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations--one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it--you will regret both." --Soren Kierkegaard, Either/Or
Either: You can live in the city where the deli on your corner is robbed at gunpoint one quiet summer evening.
Or: You can live in the suburbs where your daughter will wind up with a (probably Lyme disease-ridden) deer tick borrowing into her soft belly after rolling around on a wooded lawn.
These are my choices?
It's been a long time, but if you're Kierkegaard, isn't there some mysterious third way?
Posted by: caro | July 27, 2008 at 09:47 PM
You have all the luck! You can save those ticks and have them analyzed for Lyme so you know whether or not you have to worry. (Or at least you could when my sister got bitten about 5 years ago?)
Posted by: cat, galloping | July 27, 2008 at 10:02 PM
i think you need to find a different suburb. having lived in a suburb for many, many years i have yet to be bitten or known anyone who was bitten by a tick. even my dogs don't get ticks. find a different suburb.
Posted by: kris | July 27, 2008 at 10:12 PM
okay...you are going to drive yourself crazy soon. You are right, it is either/or. Just get on board and get happy with it, whatever it is. There is no other way.
Posted by: plangirl | July 27, 2008 at 10:33 PM
We recently moved, and when LK was moaning about it, I told him it was up to him as to how this move went for him. He could be miserable; he could be happy; he could be somewhere in-between, but it was up to him, not me, as to how he felt about it.
The same goes for you. I don't mean this to be a lecture; I mean it to be empowering. It is within your power to determine how you feel about it all.
I'm wishing you the best.
Posted by: Jill | July 27, 2008 at 11:44 PM
You realize your yard can be treated for ticks and fleas... right?
Unfortunately, neighborhoods cannot be treated for thugs.
Posted by: Taquita/Toni | July 28, 2008 at 12:01 AM
I've never experienced either of those, thank goodness, though my mother had her purse snatched in front of her house when she stupidly walked over to give someone directions and the guy's partner grabbed it (and that was in the suburbs). I hope you were being hypothetical about the tick.
Posted by: midlife mommy | July 28, 2008 at 06:02 AM
Oh dear. Thanks, wildlife, for making the move to the burbs seem so much more appealing! Though speaking from the point of view of having recently discovered peeling paint in my pre-war apartment AND seeing increased drug activity across the street, the suburbs still look pretty good, ticks and all.
(I think, around here, you have an equal chance of ticks no matter what suburb. And I'd personally rather risk the ticks than have my kid rolling in pesticide, but that's just me.)
Posted by: electriclady | July 28, 2008 at 10:07 AM
Maybe you could get her a tick collar? hehe. I crack me up. ;-)
Sorry that you are having to make such a tough choice. Aren't you thinking of doing a trial run in the burbs? So if it's just to try it for a year, maybe that's the mysterious third option?
Posted by: caramama | July 28, 2008 at 01:35 PM
ok, not really your point, but since papa woke up with Lyme disease on both of the last two Father's day (weird, eh?) I have learned a lot about it. It is Very Serious!!! Here are the issues:
1. The ticks that carry the bacteria are about the size of this period. before they swell with your blood. After they may be almost this big • so you simply don't see them before they bite or after they drop off.
2. Often you never know that you were bitten.
3. They now carry more than the Lyme bacteria and that results in possibly a very serious illness.
4. Many times the symptoms are not clearly Lyme and with missed, or misdiagnosis the infections start to cause serious, and many times, permanent damage to your neurological, immune, and other systems.
5. The list of symptoms from Lyme is vast, shockingly so and hottly debated: is it, or isn't it?
6. "Cure" of the disease once it has progressed seems to be long-term, as in years, antibiotics and the insurance companies are very aggressive, even to the point of bringing suit, with doctors who treat Lyme in this way because the medical profession has issued reports that that is not how to treat Lyme, that 2 weeks is sufficient.
7. False negatives are common in the tests available for Lyme.
And maybe they are right about 2 weeks of antibiotics sufficing, but advanced Lyme is quite different from its early stage and an infection that involves up to 7 different types of bacteria might be Lyme too, but obviously a lot more than 'just' Lyme.
Sorry so long when this really wasn't the point of your post, but the areas you are considering - as you obviously well know - are high-risk areas for Lyme.
I just couldn't help myself, I am simply Shocked at what I have learned. It is scary!
and um, well, many things about the suburbs are really quite nice and not so dangerous. It is more likely that the girl will grow up to be a mall rat. Ok, sorry, I am sure that is another of your fears. I will stop now.
Posted by: Paz | July 28, 2008 at 08:34 PM
Oh good LORD. Please ignore SCARY COMMENT above.
I not only live in the suburbs, but I also camped everywhere where deer tick live. None of us--not the dog, not my husband, not me--got lymes that way.
AND if you found the tick? It's not a deer tick. I promise.
Posted by: Cecily | July 29, 2008 at 12:39 PM