I love living in a neighborhood again. I've missed that since being in Howell, and I guess we had a little of it in Olivet. But in Kalamazoo and Yuma I was in apartments and it just wasn't the same. Here, we've got it all. Houses, duplexes, lots of cars, bikes in the street, kids playing stickball, kids being called home for dinner, neighbors fighting with their spouses, people fixing and washing cars, horns honking incessantly at 6am. And while sometimes I want to yell, "Shut up!", most of the time I love it.
This morning I saw something that made me smile. Across the street from us is a Mom, a little boy and a teenager (well, he seems to be at home all day every day so I don't know). The little boy is maybe 1st grade, Ang and I try to figure it out every other day. We know he can tell time (you hear everything in our little burrow, even the scoldings about being late for dinner). One of these days I'll go over and talk to them. I've said hi to the mom a lot, she seems really nice but it's just one of those things where we're always rushing when we see each other.
Well today I look out my window and what do I see but little boy trailing after the teenager. He's going slow, I mean it's 7:45am. He's got a hooded sweatshirt on, and the hood is up which makes him look even smaller. He's got a backpack on that's almost as big as him. He walks a little slower because he has a prostetic leg but he's not that slow. In fact most days he runs around the street like a maniac! But today he's slow and obviously sleepy. And it made me smile. Queen Anne Elementary school is a block and a half away, that's where they're going. And it just reminded me that it's fall and that some things never change. Kids go to school. Older brothers take care of younger brothers.
The little boy's the first person we met here on the street. When we did our first drive by of the house, before the real estate agent was here, he stood across the street, behind a bush, looking out at us. Now he waves and watches everything we do. And today he made me smile.
2 comments:
Did you ever watch The Wonder Years?
That was totally you and me when we were little, I was such a slow walker especially on the winter and you always had to get me to school, remember the time the lad had to call mom and tell her I was sitting in the snow bank refusing to go to school!
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