Neighbors

Nearly every afternoon, Olivia and I sit on the front porch and blow bubbles. Sometimes she just likes to walk back and forth on the sidewalk in front of our house. Sometimes she likes to climb up and down and up and down the porch stairs. We wave at the four year old girl who lives across the street and O and I talk about the "kids" she can hear playing  on the elementary school playground.

One of our neighbors who walks past our house every day during her exercise walk is a lady named Darlene. One time at our national night out party I heard her introduce herself as "the old bag who lives at the end of the street." She is super nice and has an awesome sense of humor. We chat with her every chance we get and I have heard the story of her birth, the birth of her twins, and other family members.

On our most recent visit from Darlene, she mentioned that today is her 85th birthday. This morning, Olivia and Louis and I picked up a bouquet of flowers for her at the farmer's market and put them in a vase to give to her. As we were walking to her house, we met another neighbor who was on her way to bring Darlene a birthday gift. As soon as we met up with Darlene, another family came home and met us across the street and the whole group of us sang "happy birthday" to her. Then, another family with a baby a month older than Olivia came by on bikes and joined the party. I hope Darlene felt the love! She's very well known and respected on our street.

I love our little neighborhood. I love how the old ladies make such a fuss over Olivia. I love that we can have play dates with the neighbor kids, whose parents are totally normal. I hope Olivia will enjoy growing up here.