Friday, July 28, 2006

Thinking about my neighborhood

I took a walk on the beach this evening. All the people I passed on the beach and the walk to and from greeted me with a smile and a hello. That is so different from my neighborhood in south central where people don't walk alone after dusk unless they have to.

Mia told me a story that our next door neighbor at home related to her. He has a dog. The other day two neighbor boys got a local gang member's dog and put it in the yard with his dog hoping to get the two dogs to fight. But the dogs were better behaved than the boys and refused to fight. The neighbor caught them in the act, made them go get the dog's owner to retrieve his dog. You can imagine how pleased this person was to find out what the boys tried to do and he took appropriate measures with voice and hand to insure that the boys don't do this again.

The buildings on either side of us have graffiti; the walls along the metro train line are also covered with graffiti and there is trash dumped all the way down the other side of our street along the metro wall. At various times there have been old shingles, old wood, garbage and numerous mattresses, chairs and sofas laying in the 3 foot strip along the wall. Not a pretty sight. What a contrast to the clean streets and flower beds here in MdR.

And yet, when we move to the little house on the 10 fwy in November, I suppose I'll miss the neighborhood and the place I've called home for over 3 1/2 years. I know I'll miss the little neighbor girls, the people at the local Starbuck's, and driving by the nature park. It is always bitter sweet for me to leave a place I've lived in, and God knows I've done it enough times.

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