Hi neighbor

By Emily

When Randy and I moved here a year ago, only one of our neighbors came over to meet us. As the months passed by, we wondered whether we had made a mistake in the neighborhood we chose. I have complained about a certain neighbor more than once and how unfriendly I felt my neighbors were. We even talked of selling our beloved house.

Then Hurricane Ivan tore through our town.

The morning after the storm, with daylight barely peeking through the clouds, my neighbors banded together. Generators were shared, trees were removed from driveways, houses, and the entrances to the neighborhood were cleared.

Over the next two weeks, I met every neighbor around me and even a few from the street behind me. We shared information on where to find the shortest gas lines, which stores still had water, and the latest we had heard on when power would be restored. I wondered what would happen when power was back on, people returned to work and lives began to return to normal. Would my neighbors retreat back to their respective houses? Would we return to only waving, not chatting?

It's been almost four weeks since the storm, we now have power and the kids returned to school today. The city is slowly starting to resemble itself once again. Through all of this I learned that we may have been devastated as a city, but we were united as a neighborhood.

Comments

[Goldberry]

Even if you just went back to simply waving, at least you know in a crisis, your neighbors unite as one.