Saturday, October 30, 2010

Neighbors

I have some very cool neighbors here in my new Salt Lake City neighborhood. I feel so grateful that we found this house to rent, that we live in this neighborhood, and that we have these neighbors.


A lot of the places I lived in DC and Virginia, we never got to know neighbors very much. I think that is a very city thing. When I moved to Takoma Park, MD and became a home owner, I did have a great neighborhood with a lot of very cool neighbors. But for some reason I never really connected much with them. I did not have kids or a dog, which seemed to be the common thing that got the neighbors out and about and connected. We had a very active neighborhood with a yahoo group email list and lots of block parties and cook outs, etc. But I stayed pretty isolated from the neighborhood activities. I don't know how that happened. 


Well, no, I do have an answer. I think it was my lifestyle. I worked all the bloody time, so I was never around. And my ex husband wasn't one to take a lead on being engaged in the neighborhood. And then my marriage was falling apart and I was going through all of that. And then I was alone, again with no kids, no dog and no real roots in the community. I think I just never felt like it really was my neighborhood - a true fit. Which is why I was more than ready earlier this year to sell the house and move on.


When we arrived here in SLC, the neighbors around here were all very friendly. Stopping by to say hi and introduce themselves.  Very Utah. We had a cookout in June and invited some of the neighbors we had met. It was a great party. A lot of neighbors. A lot of fun. Then we got busy with wedding planning and family matters and suddenly BAM its almost November and we haven't really hung out with the neighbors again. You know how that goes. You get busy. Stuff happens. Time flies.


There are three couples we've connected with - an older couple (70s) across the street, a couple our age next door, and another slightly younger couple across the other street. The older couple organized a little party last night for the 8 of us - hors d'oeuvres, chocolate fondue, champagne toasts (for our recent wedding) and lots of wine and scotch. It was so much fun hanging out with them and getting to know them better. Lots of funny stories. In one of the couples the wife is an OBGYN and her husband is an Emergency Room nurse. They have, as you can imagine, some pretty weird and funny stories. 


I am looking forward to the next dinner party.

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