A bittersweet return...

This morning I took the 6th North exit in Salt Lake City and kept driving up the west side of Capitol Hill until I found myself stopped outside the little orange building we called home for four years.

It made me want to cry.

I kept heading east, looked to my right and tossed a longing glance at one of the finest establishments in the city.

Oh, E-Z Mart.

A brilliant business model, really -- buy Costco products in bulk, procure a price sticker labeler thingy, mark each individual pound of Kirkland butter at $10 and resell said butter to frazzled crazy woman (me) who, halfway through mixing up a batch of cookies, discovered the key ingredient was missing from her freezer.

Driving through our old neighborhood always hurts my heart a little.

So many memories live there.

I miss walking the tree-lined streets -- first with my husband, picking out our dream homes.

Then with my daughter, showing her the world and working off the baby weight one mile at a time.

I miss bundling Lola up on long, cold days and walking down to the Chevron for a Diet Dr. Pepper.

Often that was the only time we left the house that first winter after she was born.

I miss walking to the newsroom when the weather turned warm.
I miss being so close to so many things -- KSL, Gateway, Temple Square, the Farmers Market, Memory Grove.

I miss the friends we made.

I miss just about everything.
Except for the naked guy who used to hang out on our lawn from time to time.

The Marmalade District -- with all its color and beauty and quirkiness -- will always own a little part of my heart.

We were so lucky to get the chance to write it into our life history.