Neighbors Are A-Changing
We’ve lived in our house for 28 years. Before that, we were in
a house for about 8 years. I gave birth to my children in that first house. My
older daughter started school while we lived there--we moved while she was in
the first grade. I didn’t notice too many changes because we bought the house
new and everyone around us had young children.
A couple of weeks ago, though, I looked at where we live now
and realized that we, and the older couple down the block who were original
owners (we’re the third owners of our home), are now the “old” people in the neighborhood.
Every other house on the street, probably eight besides us, has changed hands
in the last 10 to 12 years, and now some are changing again. Personally, I
think it’s great that the street is getting young again, but then I feel really
old. My children live far away so I rarely have my granddaughter playing on the
front lawn. Plus some of the families that arrived in the last 15 years have
kids now entering high school. They were babies—or not even born—when their
parents moved onto the block.
As an example, the people in the house next door left the
day after their oldest son finished eighth grade. We have no idea what happened
or where they went, but I do know that they had 2 kids when they moved in and 4 when they left. One day
we saw a for-sale sign, and by spring those kids seemed to have disappeared. In
fact, the mother, who was always outside with them, seemed to disappear as
well. Odd, but then they left (and they were also the third, or maybe even the
fourth to own that house) and the new family was coming in. One day I’ll find out what happened from her
neighbor on the other side, who not only knows everything going on but also had
a daughter graduate from 8th grade and will be going on to high school. That
girl wasn’t even born when her family moved in.
The next cycle
It looks like the new neighbors are starting a new cycle of
kids. We saw her going to pick up her mail while carrying a baby. Then again,
that’s the only time we’ve seen her. They spent a month on fixes to that house
before moving in, and then just seemed to be gone a lot as well.
I like the “youngification” of the block though.
Neighborhoods should be like that. My daughter just moved to a house that’s
been around for a while. On one side there is an elderly woman and her daughter;
behind the new house is a family with 6 kids, and I hear that the other night three
more families arrived to introduce themselves—with kids of varying ages. The neighborhood
is 40 years old but the original owners are moving on.
In some ways the
changes keep us young, although we’re back to driving really slowly up the
block to make sure no one runs out in front of us. But, I guess it’s time for
us to think about moving on as well. It’s a really good street in an excellent
school district. Soon it will be the right time to let someone else enjoy it,
and keep the street young. But then again, living here also helps keep us young watching everyone play. It's a hard choice.
