Community

When we moved to our present house with our 3-year old nearly 15 years ago, we came to a neighborhood in transition. There were a number of young families like us on our block, but there were also a handful of older residents. Erna, Marge, and MaryAnn were all widows who had raised their children on this block. Erna had been here the longest -- 58 years!

Well, Erna and Marge have both passed and their houses sold. (MaryAnn is still going strong.) Our 3-year old is getting ready to graduate from high school. A lot of our neighbors have stayed put and I've watched their children grow up. Others moved away in search of houses with 2 bathrooms (the scary toilet in the basement doesn't count.) At some point in the last year I began thinking about those of us who put down our roots and stayed, and how we are the old-timers even now. We'll be the Marges, Ernas and MaryAnns in not too long. Yikes.

But before I sink deeper into middle-aged melancholia, what I want to celebrate is this little community in which I live. 3 years ago I transferred to a teaching position at the neighborhood school, one of the best decisions I could have made. My workplace is 5 blocks from my home, and most days I walk or bike to work. From an environmental standpoint, of course it makes good sense, but there is more to it than that. I love seeing my students and their families outside of school. On Halloween when I answered the door for one of my kindergartners, and his jaw just about hit the ground, or when I bike past a group of kids and hear, "Hi, Ms. G!" -- it warms my heart.

Neighbors wave to each other. The kids play "kick the can" on summer nights. We dog and cat-sit each others pets, have backyard campfires, share ladders and lawnmowers, provide meals when they're needed. No one freaks out about a less than neat yard (we've had a broken down piano in our driveway for the last 6 months) or backyard chickens. And it's very inclusive -- old timers, new families, renters, the guy riding past on his bike. Not to sound too smug or self-congratulatory, but my sense is that this kind of community is rather unique in this day and age. Is it?

At any rate, to me it seems like the only sustainable way to live, the pathway to the future. My community is my emergency preparedness system.