New Friends, Neighbors and Simple Pleasures

Our house has been on the market for a year and a half. One of the things that I've always complained about with our neighborhood was that there were no other kids. Don't get me wrong, I love our neighbors and our neighborhood, but the kids miss out on the fun of having neighborhood kids to play with.

Two weeks ago, the night we ran out to follow the hot air balloons, we saw a family that we'd never seen before. And we noticed that the daughter looked like she was pretty close in age to Isabelle. The next day, Isabelle excitedly hurried outside with her scooter to see if she could find this girl again. In fact, they were looking for each other!

They became fast friends and we found out that this girl was the same age and grade as Isabelle. How cool is that? The bond that they formed was instantaneous. It's nearly impossible to separate the two of them now.

In fact, their friendship keeps becoming stronger and stronger. This girl comes over to our house after school until her mom gets home. I offered, because I'm all about celebrating this friendship after 6 years of no close neighborhood kids.

And today, we found out that Isabelle has to switch schools. Our local school had to displace her to a different school in the district because her fourth grade was full. Well, one of the kids withdrew and there's an opening for Isabelle now. She makes the switch on Wednesday. Best of all, her new best friend is in her new class!

These two girls decided over the weekend that they wanted to hold a garden contest for all the condos in our neighborhood with gardens in their front yard. They created a flyer with all the details and passed them out. And seeing the reaction of our neighbors when they drop off the entry forms has made me abundantly grateful that we live here.

Our neighbors, all of them, know Isabelle. She's always been the girl that rides her scooter all day long. They've noticed that it's no longer Isabelle alone and they are as excited for her as Eric and I. Hearing neighbors that Eric and I only know in passing say they are so happy to see the girls enjoying each other and being creative is a wonderful things.

And every time another entry form gets dropped off, I get the pleasure of seeing the joy and excitement in the girls faces. They're building their friendship and bringing a neighborhood together, even if they don't realize it. Honestly, I don't mind if that "For Sale" sign stays in our window another year. There's nowhere I'd rather live right now!

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