As the daffodils came out this spring, so did the neighbors. We live on an urban block in a University area. Many of us have replaced all or part of our front yard lawns with flower and/or vegetable beds. We've been working on our gardens after hours, early in the morning, and on weekends--when it's not raining. And we've been crossing the street to chat. After the isolation of winter when we wave briefly as we dig our cars out of the snow in the morning, spring is a time of greeting and community. (I live in a part of the country (USA) that has been described as nine months of winter and three months of bad sledding.)
I've been in this neighborhood for six years and I recently realized I know who lives in every house but two. Some of the neighbors use their porches every day in summer. Others prefer the back. As I think about it, the porches that face east in the evening are used and those that face west are not--that's reasonable. My across-the-street neighbor who faces east doesn't have a porch. So she put two Adirondack chairs in her front yard. I felt her action pull me toward the front of my house in the morning before the hot sun arrives.
Our block is already a community. A recent confrontation between an outsider and a babysitter who was unable to calm a bereft child, led to neighbors in action. Some neighbors guided the interloper away from the house, others comforted the sitter and the child. All the neighbors had heard the child's cries and read them as normal tiredness and upset for this child. No one was concerned that the child was being mis-treated. We rallied round the girl and the child. This was followed by planning for a block party.
I'm inspired by the reality of community in which I find myself. I've always wanted to live with a sense of community without living communally. And I discover that I am.
I've been in this neighborhood for six years and I recently realized I know who lives in every house but two. Some of the neighbors use their porches every day in summer. Others prefer the back. As I think about it, the porches that face east in the evening are used and those that face west are not--that's reasonable. My across-the-street neighbor who faces east doesn't have a porch. So she put two Adirondack chairs in her front yard. I felt her action pull me toward the front of my house in the morning before the hot sun arrives.
Our block is already a community. A recent confrontation between an outsider and a babysitter who was unable to calm a bereft child, led to neighbors in action. Some neighbors guided the interloper away from the house, others comforted the sitter and the child. All the neighbors had heard the child's cries and read them as normal tiredness and upset for this child. No one was concerned that the child was being mis-treated. We rallied round the girl and the child. This was followed by planning for a block party.
I'm inspired by the reality of community in which I find myself. I've always wanted to live with a sense of community without living communally. And I discover that I am.
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