Wednesday, April 19, 2017

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!



One of THE absolute best thing about our transient home downtown, has been our neighbors.

We always craved community life while we lived at Windy Poplars (which was located in a country neighborhood where people lived because they wanted to be left alone). In our romantical minds, we had visions of finding a fabulous apartment complex where everybody knew everybody, and regularly hung out after work... That's how things are when you live in communal housing, right? Obviously, my husband and I had never done this before... But as we shared that idealistic hope with friends, they would share story after story of how they never even met the people who lived on either side of them during their years of apartment tenant-ing. 

Moving ahead with trepidation: we find our floft (loft+flat = floft in case you're new to the game), move in, and meet a couple neighbors right off the bat who seem potentially friendly during the move-in process...And some who don't.

Our hopes lifted ever-so-slightly-ish.

A few weeks go by, and once we'd settled in and collected enough chairs for company, we decided to host a Hot Cider Social and take a stab at blindly inviting the people who live behind the doors of the "Back Alley" - the length of our hall has maybe 8 doors or so, and 6 of us have our own entrances, so we don't necessarily run into each other coming and going inside the building. Jesse's cautiously optimistic that maybe 2 will show. I had zero expectations. A day of crickets went by, but then lo and behold the RSVPs start rolling in! Nearly every.single.neighbor. came by for a bit during that open-house style social, and most of them were meeting each other for the first time (even though some have lived here for years! What??!). We've gotten together with many of them often since then...some for dessert, some for wine, some for tea, some for dinner, some to celebrate, some for conversation on the terrace... It's been such a gift getting to know these people!

Nothing makes my heart happier than a neighbor popping in wearing socks and sweats to share some snacks and what's been going on lately in their life - or a neighbor knocking on the door on their way home from work excited to tell us about their new job offer - or a neighbors girl's day complete with manis and face masks - one bringing over a DVD they thought we would enjoy - or many tea times full of relaxed newsy put-your-feet-up chat - or one texting to borrow a blow dryer - another to borrow some fresh lemon - or one bringing over some stew to share that came out extra yummy... 

We just adore our neighbors, are so thankful to find that community in apartment complexes CAN exist, and already feel a little tinge of sadness that we all won't be living here on the back alley together forever!

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