A dream come true...

So we all have dreams about what our life will be like when we're older. Many of them unfulfilled (thankfully) and many of them unfulfilled (regretfully), but those are all blog posts for another day. Because some of those dreams have been fulfilled and they've been fulfilled beyond my wildest imagination. The one that really hits me today, is my house. I grew up in the country. On seven acres of woodlands with the nearest house, a farm, 1/2 mile down the road. I rode on a school bus for 45 min, every morning and after school, from Kindergarten through Senior year of high school (I got to drive my parent's Omni most days, but occasionally I'd still have to ride the bus.) I grew up literally half an hour from anywhere. And while there were a lot of things I loved about growing up where I did, I got it into my head at that when I grew up, I wanted to live in the city, not downtown anywhere, but in a neighborhood. I wanted sidewalks, paved driveways, garage door openers, "block parties", playgrounds, neighbors I could watch coming/going, neighbors I could visit in my bathrobe for a cup of sugar, neighbors who knew my cat from looking out the window, etc.

And by cracky...I've got it and even better than I ever dreamed.

I live in a house, in a neighborhood, in a city (not a village, not a unincorporated area). Its just what I dreamed it would be and more... I love the park behind my house with a playground and tennis courts, and the sidewalk where my kids ride their tricycles and the BIG, fancy-pants park with mileage marked on paved walkways, a hardware store and grocery store within walking distance, and the mail is delivered to a little black box attached to my house. And I have neighbors, neighbors who bring me onions from their organic garden, and lend us their folding tables for our garage sale and their shrub cutters, and milk and lawn chairs and coolers and toys and feed our cats and pick up our forgotten toys in the sidewalk and wave to us in the yard. And even better than I dreamed...my kids have kids their own age to play with. Honestly, that was never really part of my dream, my vision of living in the city...I guess I always imagined it more from my own perspective, not the children I would have someday. But my kids have kids their own age, that they get to play with, cry with, laugh with, hang out with, right at their fingertips. Whether or not they will all be best buddies forever remains to be seen, one might be sporty, one might be book-ish, one might be creative and one might be musical. But the bonds that my kids are forming with the neighborhood kids are something that will always be there. Those childhood bonds could last a lifetime. The kids who grow up around you, know your family, your struggles, your joys. When I look at the pictures of half naked little kids eating ice cream all together at a tiny picnic table...I thank the universe for bringing me to this special little neighborhood where my kids can grow up with sidewalks and mailboxes and friends for life.