The People In Your Neighborhood

Oh, who are the people in your neighborhood,
In your neighborhood, in your neighborhood.
Say who are the people in your neighborhood,
The people that you meet each day?

I‘m sure you all remember that song, that was made famous by the Muppet’s. It’s a great song that children can sing along to. Throughout the song the muppet’s skillfully highlighted different people that we all meet (the postman, the brave fireman, etc.) in our neighborhood. As a child I loved singing that song.

Today, I was out for my morning walk with our dog, and as usual I found myself thinking about a number of things. I find my morning walk is one time of the day, where I have enough space to think, meditate and pray. I love the walks, especially in Spring, when the sun is up earlier than the dark winter mornings. Every day another bird joins others in song, green returns to the landscape palate and the chill in the air seems to lift day-by-day. It truly is a time of awakening.

As I walked through my neighborhood this morning, waving to those on their way to work (or otherwise), I began to think about my neighbors and how blessed our family is to live in such an extraordinary community. I’m not sure if our neighborhood is unique or not but it certainly feels like it is. Just this weekend many of the neighborhood kids gathered together to play a huge game of man tracker. The kids had all their contraptions, toys, nerf guns and the like out and ready for action. At one point I found my son and a few other boys making their own bow and arrow. I was amazed at how far they could actually fly. Their imaginations were running wild and kids were everywhere.

In our neighborhood we also like to get together to eat. So, on any given weekend you can be sure that one family will open their doors and invite everyone in, simply to relax and enjoy each others company.

In a nutshell… I really like our neighborhood and so this morning, with a smile on my face, I found myself singing ‘The People In Your Neighborhood’ and it felt good. I hope you have people in your neighborhood that you have connected with. If not, can I encourage you to take advantage of this lovely Spring weather and enjoy each other. If you have kids, encourage them to get outside and play, challenge them to let their imagination take over and to involve some of the neighbor kids in a game (this is better than any computer game can offer). Life is to short to stay boxed up in our homes and for us Canadians who are saying good-bye to winter, it’s time spread our wings and enjoy the season ahead of us.

As I sign off I ask, “Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood’?

Susan xo