What's in a neighborhood?

Tonight, our driveway was covered in chairs, tables, people, food, and children laughing and running. Tonight, we played host to the neighborhood block party.

When we first moved into our house 8 years ago, we had no idea what we were getting in to. And, I mean that in the best possible way. We were young, had been married less than a year, and had had only lived in apartments. We went house hunting with the concrete knowledge that we would only live in our starter house for 5 years. Tops. Ha! I laugh at our silly younger selves. Because we weren't planning to stay that long, we didn't really look into the schools that much. We didn't care that the house was on a cul-de-sac. And, we definitely didn't consider what kind of neighbors we were getting. Man, did we luck out.

In good weather, people are almost always outside. Kids run up and down the street. Molly and Charlotte have lots of other children to play with. We've gone to block parties, Christmas parties, pumpkin carving parties, Easter Egg Hunts, and wine tastings. My running partner lives right across the street from me. It's been 8 years, and frankly, we are scared to move. I can't imagine moving to another neighborhood. 

I would love a house with more closet space, a basement worth finishing, or even enough space to host Charlotte's birthday party in the middle of winter. It would be so nice to not have 80s cabinets or popcorn ceilings. There are so many things about my house I would change. But, I would not change my neighborhood. And, when we weigh what's most important, the awesome neighborhood wins out over the bigger, newer house, every time. I am not ready to give up the family of neighbors we have here. 

So, tonight, we had everyone over onto our driveway. One guy made pulled pork. One girl brought jello shots. Everyone brought side dishes. We even had the fire department out so the kids could explore a fire truck. We had a bounce house. We even had people come from other streets in our neighborhood. We're branching out!

It was a blast. We found a group of neighbors who like to eat, drink and let the kids run around while we sit back and laugh. What more could you ask for? Well, to be honest, if I could have that and more closet space, I really would be ecstatic. But, right now, I'll settle for very  happy and content.

Molly taking Leah and Charlotte for a ride.

Molly trying on the fireman's helmet while hanging out in the truck.

Cory and Charlotte in front of the fire truck.

Cheri, Celeste and me.

Jean and me ready to take her jello shots.

Our crazy driveway.