Safety in numbers

Did you know that I live in a neighborhood? Well, I do. Before we moved here, I lived in a bedroom community. That means that even though I had grown up with most of the people who lived near me we did not interact on a regular basis. I knew the local grocer and my way around town, but it wasn't a close knit feeling. Our next door neighbors were RELATED to me and they rarely spoke to us unless we had parked in their way. Save for my mom and my best friend there wasn't really anyone to lean on for those things neighbors lean on each other about.

When we moved here our neighbor Jenny brought cookies. She introduced herself and her family. When we go to the park, we are likely to run into more than one person we know and the kids all play together. Even friends that live outside of walking distance are neighborly. We shuffle kids back and forth from house to house depending on who needs to do what. There is no formal agreement to watch after anyone else's children. We (at least in my mind) are a village. We lean on each other, knowing when our need comes there will be someone to lean on. That really floats my boat. For all our modern conveniences and whatnot, we still need what generations before us needed. And it is reassuring to know that such values still exist in such a wacky world as the one we live in.

Thanks!