I frequently overuse the word AWESOME to express how great I think something is, but I really mean it when describing our neighborhood.
The Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier asked for nominations for great neighborhoods for their "Cedar Valley Neighborhood Project: Who we are. Where we live. Why we stay." My next door neighbor, Angela, posted a link to the nominations on our "Tremont Good Neighbors Group" Facebook page. Several of us nominated our neighborhood. And today, the Courier sent a couple of guys to take photos and video and interview all of us about the neighborhood. We organized a quick cook out and 27 of us (including kids) were in attendance.
We nominated our neighborhood because we trust our neighbors. We can ask them to pick up mail while we're out of town, we send our kids over to ask for a quarter cup of milk when we start macaroni and cheese and realize we don't have everything, we give away extra veggies from our summer gardens, and we watch each other's kids when needed. We also have great parties. Neighbors know when the lights are on at Myszkaville, they can pop on over and chat for awhile.
True to form, we needed a grill today for the cook out, as our own charcoal grill is good for a few burgers, but not for 20 hot dogs, 10 burgers and several brats. So we turned to the Corkerys across the street. They have lent us their grill on multiple occasions. They are awesome neighbors.
We were all pretty friendly with each other, but we became really close, more than just acquaintances, when straight line winds knocked down many of the trees in our neighborhood, in the wee hours of the morning of July 10, 2009. Once it was calm outside, you could find many of us outside with flashlights, walking around, checking to make sure everyone was OK. Our next door neighbor's tree crushed Eric's car. Across the street, a giant oak fell on the neighbor's house and tweaked it so it needed to be completely remodeled. No one could leave because trees blocked the streets. No one had power. But we were all OK. And it created a bond.
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| July 10, 2009 |
The neighborhood and houses are pretty old. But the majority of people living in those houses are all families in their late 20's to mid 40's with kids ranging from 2 months to 20 years. We've had a few fantastic neighbors move away, but even if they are no longer next door to us, they will forever be our friends. And we have had some great new people move into the neighborhood, some just because they knew how awesome it is, and those of us who have been here for awhile like to welcome them in style. (This just happened to be April Fool's Day too, so that didn't hurt).
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| Angela Johnson, me, Sarah Albertson-Corkery |
I love the house we live in because Eric's grandfather built it. I have a very deep desire to live in a larger house though, especially with all of our social gatherings. So I have been plotting to move at some point (probably far) in the future. However, I don't want to leave my neighbors. If there is a way to make the house bigger, I might have to go that route because my neighbors are irreplaceable and we will NEVER be this lucky living anywhere else.
Day to day life can be made or broken by the people you surround yourself with. I'm lucky that those who live in close proximity to me are not just neighbors, but really good friends.
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| Continuing the tradition of summer parties going out with a bang, thank you to Rowena who brought a watermelon and a huge bag of rubber bands. Put enough rubber bands around the middle of a watermelon and it goes BOOM! So much fun!! THIS NEIGHBORHOOD IS AWESOME!!! |
