Do you know your neighbors? How old are the children across the street? What are the names of the couple two doors down? Who on your block has your house key? If you became ill, how long before one of your neighbors noticed?
For about 26 years I could tell you all that and more. I wish I could tell you about all the wonderful people who have been part of my community, but there are just too many of them. My neighbors on the right and left of me have been here since these homes were built in 1976.
The year of Snowmaggedon, 2010, friends and neighbors got together to shovel out entire intersections and the path to Beville Middle School so children could get to school safely and not be forced to walk in the street. I noted that none of the participants had children in that school.
For many years at Halloween, we hosted an amazing haunt in our back yard. Each year it got bigger and better until finally it became so cumbersome we had to stop.
Our garage was filled to the rafters with Halloween decorations and we could barely get a car in there. It took us weeks to set up and days to tear down. In our biggest year we had a cast of 40 “actors”!
During Christmas, people would drive from all over to see the lights on Lynhurst Drive House after house was illuminated with lights on trees and roofs, in windows and around doors.
On the 4th of July, there were cookouts and fireworks on the street corner. All the neighbors chipped in for a great display, then a couple of stalwart folks cleaned up all the debris.
My neighbors across the street moved here in 1996 and their three children were very small. Charlie ran his own business doing siding and his wife worked from home.
One year, Charlie became very ill. His liver and lungs were failing and he needed organ transplants. He had no medical insurance. Many people from his church and from our neighborhood as well as complete strangers all prayed for him and collected money for their family.
He received the transplants but was left weakened from his ordeal. He could no longer perform the physical labor of climbing ladders to run his siding business. He and his wife scraped together enough money to open a small restaurant and they work endless hours to make a living.
They lost their house here in Lindendale to foreclosure a couple of years ago. Through all their troubles they remain strong and stoic. They never once asked for help except to pray.
We attended funerals. We celebrated birthdays. We mowed grass for each other and shoveled snow for each other. We looked out for small children and talked to parents if there was a problem.
“Do you need a ride?”
“Would you like some of these plants?”
“I’m on my way to the store. Can I get anything for you while I’m there?”
If your community is not like that, you can change it. Just go outside and start with, “Hello! Can I help you with that?”
PS – The restaurant Charlie and Mira own is the Korean Grill & Rolls on Golansky Blvd. in Woodbridge. If you go there, please tell them I said, “Hello.”
