It was one year ago yesterday we moved to the Lakeshore.
We quickly became aware that we had moved to a pretty special neighborhood. I can't think of a single neighbor who has failed to greet me and introduce themself. No one cares about our barking dogs because they all have barking dogs, and most of them run off leash (someone will let you know if your puppy has strayed too far).
My favorite part of summer was the July 4 parade where all the kids decorated their bikes for a trip around the neighborhood loop. There was also a Bloody Mary bar for the adults. When the sun set on our first Independence Day, a neighbor with beachfront property set off some serious fireworks for our viewing pleasure.
Then school started, followed by winter, and everyone went their separate ways. Now the kids are home from school and the teachers in the neighborhood (there are a lot of them) are ensuring the kids are playing outside (in small groups).
As the weather grows warmer and the pandemic spreads, my community is coming out of hibernation. Earlier this week one of the neighbors sent around an email to all households in the association to ensure everyone was doing okay. People are still responding as of this morning, and every single person who isn't self-isolating because of possible COVID-19 exposure from recent travels has signed off with some variation of "let me know if you need anything."
This morning a neighbor (a teacher, of course 🙂) knocked on the door with sidewalk chalk in hand asking if we wanted to come out to "chalk the walk." While I declined, an hour or so later I took the dog out for a long walk and discovered a couple of families had been around the entire neighborhood loop and left drawings and hopeful message.
In front of our house - where, if we have our curtains open, you can see most of Joe's guitars hanging from hooks on the wall - someone wrote, "We like your guitars!"
But my favorite message today was this: "Keep the faith."
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