Sunday, December 5, 2010

Neighborly

We bought our house when our neighborhood was being built. We were actually the third house up and saw the rest of the homes go up around us. Two years after moving in we had our first child and two more have followed since. Our oldest is now five and until a few months ago we could have sworn that no other kids lived in our neighborhood.

Then our daughter went off to school, our local public school. Each afternoon after school let out our streets and sidewalks became filled with kids riding bikes, scooters, playing catch, etc. Then, out for a walk one day, our daughter saw a classmate and they were beyond thrilled to learn they lived so close to each other. In the week since kids have come out of the woodwork. One of our daughter's best friends lives just down the road from us on our same street. Ironically, they have lived there almost as long as we have and yet we have never run into each other. Now, we are out almost everyday after school watching our children play as well as the weekends. It's actually really nice. It seems strange though that after 7 years we are finally starting to meet more of our neighbors, especially those with children.

Some of my best childhood memories are those that involve playing with the neighborhood children. We rode bikes, played ball in the street, went in and out of each other's homes as if they were our own. Today people are much more cautious and stand offish and I can understand much of that, but it sure would be nice to have a little bit more of that true neighborly and community feeling and we are starting to have some of that. It's nice.

3 comments:

Nancy said...

It just seems that's the way it is sometimes!
I'm glad you have found friends/kids in the neighborhood - those are my best memories of childhood too!

Joanne said...

It's interesting how we often make neighbor connections through our children. I'll bet your daughter is glad, too. There's nothing like that simplicity of hanging out with childhood pals.

Robyn said...

I totally agree. Next year when Bear's in kindergarten and I'm standing outside in the cold at the bus stop with the other parents, I figure we'll FINALLY meet some of the neighbors (and see if there are any kids Bear's age).