Oh how I hated Bethesda when we first moved here. Everyone I met was either a doctor, lawyer or PhD. something. The women had perfect hair and nannies. The kids were nearly all well-groomed. Many families employed housekeepers and lawn services. I felt like a fish out of water. I felt that my blue-collar background was obvious. All my friends were on the other side of the Potomac.
It took hearing someone else bad-mouth Bethesda to make me realize I’d finally gotten comfortable living here. Now it is home and, while I talk about retiring to Olympia, I might not.
Cedar Waxwing's 365 
Did you change, or did Bethesda? Maybe not in a bad way either way…
I changed the way I thought about Bethesda, Bridget, plus I eventually made friends of like-minded people. The perfect-hairs still intimidate me though.
we have them here too, we call them “Clayton Hair” although most of the women with that haircut are further into west county…
I haven’t been to Bethesda in a million years, but I definitely think of it as a place I could never have afforded to be. Because I was a medical editor, I of course have it totally associated with NIH.
I was so excited to go to Bethesda! I loved the name. And the agent for our company (a NZer who married an American) lived there, and I’d stay out there at some chain hotel (can’t remember which), and wander down to the town and go to any one of the restaurants down there. (There was a fancy Vietnamese one I liked). It’s where I saw my one and only firefly. The suburb looked like all those suburbs we saw on US TV shows at Christmas. But yes, it looked very well-healed.
I have such a polarized memory of Bethesda due to the ex in-laws. But I do remember a couple of really good restaurants, and I think that this crazy co-op was there where I bought spices (but I might have mis-remembered that!). I am pleased that Mali saw a firefly there – but wish she could have seen a whole yardful of them, which were common in the hot, humid Maryland summers that I remember.
We do have a Women’s Farm Market that’s kind of like a co-op but now that I think about it I bet your spices were from the Bethesda Co-op on Seven Locks Road.
That sounds right!