Our teeny tiny community

My teeny tinies have been kept very busy recently thanks to the flurry of activities brought on by two lovely swap parcels.

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.

Comments

[P]

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 :)

[weirdbunny]

It's so lovely in swaps when people put in stuff for the kiddies too.

[linda]

What a nice neighborhood you live in! Having kids has forced me to be more sociable. I, too, like knowing my neighbors now.

[simmyb]

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.