Neighborhood Block Party

It starts with all the neighbors gathering on one end of the street to decorate bikes and dogs and wagons with streamers. We then parade down to the cul-de-sac .... to tell you the truth, the parade is kind of lame, but one of the kids on the street (she is now 14) started the dog parade years ago and the tradition is kept alive in her honor. This year, she helped all of the kids decorate their bikes and was sure to pass out her phone number for possible babysitting gigs.

After the parade, the kids run around the cul-de-sac and try to do a May pole. They are a bit young to get it right, but they have fun nonetheless. This year, we also had crafts and facepaints and a few other games for the kids. While the kids are playing, the adults fire up the grills and cook burgers and hot dogs, while all the neighbors bring a side-dish to share.

We were fortunate to have a beautiful spring day for this year's party. It was nice to spend some time with neighbors I know, and I also met plenty of neighbors who I had never even seen before. It is amazing to me that I know so few of our neighbors. I walk the dog almost every day, so I know a lot more than most, but still I have never seen some of these people come or go from their houses. Kind of sad, really, that we do not interact with our neighbors too much. It was even more sad that two of the neighbors who live directly across the street from where the party was taking place were outside washing cars and puttering around their yards. Even after someone went over, introduced themselves, and asked if they would like to join us, they still declined. Oh well. Their loss.

One of the invisible neighbors we met that day was a family about 6 houses down who has two daughters, one three and one 18 months. Carolyn immediately found her new best friend, Abbey. Hopefully, we can get them out of their house more often so the girls can play together sometime.