When we were shopping for our new house we had a pretty concrete list of things we were looking for and pretty high on that list was a house that was part of a neighborhood, part of a community.  A sense of community is very important to us and we were willing to give a little on the house in order to get that.  Several of our friends and acquaintances didn’t quite understand our need to be able to walk to things like the grocery store, a park, the pharmacy.  They didn’t understand that those things were higher on our list than having a house with a lot of square footage.

Growing up I fondly remember walking with my Mum everywhere.  We walked to the park, we walked to the library, we walked to the grocery store or the drug store if she only needed to pick up a few things.  I loved that.  In our condo we were smack dab in the middle of the action, there were stores, restaurants, parks, cultural activities all around us, all within walking distance.  I loved that.  So, it only made sense that we would look for some of the same things in our new neighborhood.

But, not only did I want to be able to walk places, I wanted to be part of a neighborhood, a town that had a good sense of community.  A place where people wanted to participate to make it a better, more fun place to live.  A place where neighbors said hello to each other and offered to help each other out when needed.  When we choose our house we knew we were going to be able to walk to all the things we wanted to be able to walk to but we were only pretty sure we were getting that sense of community, because really there is  no way to know for sure until you move in.

We’ve lived here just over a week and I can say for absolute certain that this neighborhood and this town offer just that.  Our neighbors have all been wonderful, taking time to stop by and say hello and introduce themselves.  Offering their phone numbers in case of emergency or if we just need someone to watch Maya.  Maya and I spent the afternoon Saturday at a lovely little gathering in honor of the lady who used to own this house and to help welcome us to the neighborhood.  I’ve never felt so welcome some where as I do here.

On Friday night the park across the street was the site of a community event and our chance to see if this community would live up to our hopes.  There was a free concert in the park going on.   In our old neighborhood events like that drew a huge crowd and I was hoping to see more of the same.  I was not disappointed.  The park was filled with families relaxing on picnic blankets or in lawn chairs under the shade of huge trees listening to the sound of Beatles tunes coming from the live band.  Kids filled the playground and danced in the grass near their parents.  It was so much fun.

Maya had a blast partaking in two of her most favorite activities, swinging and dancing

I’m glad we made the choice we did.  I’m glad we put heavy weight on the neighborhood and community so that we could end up where we are in a house we love, in a neighborhood that is really making us feel welcome, in a community that is living up to my very high expectations.