Angela's family sent cute handmade robot hand puppets, jacks in a bag, personalized fishy notepads, rubber stamps, stickers, feathers, beads, key rings, books - the goodies just kept on coming.
Philippa and her daughter sent us a great put together kit to make our own peg people (more of that another time..), books, soap, a crinkly winged birdie (my personal favourite) and a cute world map to show where we live in relation to where they live. The irony of this is that it turns out that 10 years ago, Philippa and I lived 2 streets from each other. Of course, we didn't know one another then - in fact, 10 years ago in the other universe that was 'life-before-children' I knew very few of my neighbours.
Andy and I both left home for work every day and returned without a thought for what went on in our street in our absence or the mini-dramas being played out behind the bay windows all around us. Now I am embarrassed at how self-centred we were. One of the joys of my children, for me, is the way in which they have given our family roots.
I love running into friends and acquaintances when I'm doing my errands. I feel valued when my neighbours ask me to feed their pet, or put their bin out, or water their plants. I am tickled at the fact our postman always brings all the 'working household' parcels to me to pass on when the workers arrive home. A sense of community is a real gift.
4 comments:
I still can't get over that we lived so close - so strange to think that we quite likely walked past each other in the street going about our daily lives.
You're right about kids and rooting yourself in a neighbourhood. People just have to smile and chat when your little one's dressed as Cinderella I find :)
It's so lovely in swaps when people put in stuff for the kiddies too.
What a nice neighborhood you live in! Having kids has forced me to be more sociable. I, too, like knowing my neighbors now.
I totally agree with you about how nice it is to have a sense of community. I'm very lucky in that I grew up like that (Indian community) and I've always had it wherever I've lived - even in London.
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