I don’t want to come across as old or sugar coat the past, like my parents used to do. I remember time after time when I heard about walking to school…..in the snow…. snot running …… uphill…. both ways… lol.. yes we know that story don’t we? I do love a lot of my dad’s old stories and they need to be written down or taped to hold onto them. We plan on doing a lot of that soon.

But what I have noticed is that we come home and hit our remote control for the garage opener and drive into our homes and never even see nor talk with our neighbors. They can be total strangers to us. I live in a wonderful neighborhood. I actually enjoy my neighbors and we get together a couple times a year for dinners and visiting. It is so much fun.

We are all different. We come from different backgrounds. We have vastly different jobs. Some have kids, some don’t. We even come from different nationalities. But the thing I love about this neighborhood that I haven’t had in previous neighborhoods, is that we wave at each other when driving by. We stop in the street and chat as long as no one else is coming. Sometimes we even back out of the driveway at the same time and fight over who gets to go first.

We have a family of deer that are the neighborhood pets. They come in and out of our yard. We all love seeing them. There are also the foxes. They came up to a neighbors house this winter and he fed them some hot dogs since it was so cold that day. I’m sure we have other animals but they aren’t considered pets. Last fall we had 4 wild turkey’s alongside the road as I was driving out of the neighborhood.

My point is we should really try hard to not lose that sense of neighborhood. We should be friendly and encourage others to also be engaging. Know your neighbors. Take them home made cookies. Ask them over and play cards. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that then pick up their newspaper and take it to the front porch as a random act of kindness.

It feels good to know who you live next to. I don’t feel so isolated should something go wrong. We sort of look out for each other. I know even though I live with my son at this point, when the day comes that I am alone, I won’t really be alone. I have people next door, across the street and down the street that care about me. They care if I’m ok. They would be there in an emergency.

So wave at someone today for no reason.. just smile and wave and I bet they will wave back. And no I don’t mean wave them any sign language.. that’s just mean.. but wave with feeling. Let’s hold onto those traditions that are almost gone but easily brought back today.

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