Know Thy Neighbor

Last week my kids had a snow day from preschool and absolute terror crept in – what in the world was I going to do to entertain them all day? Typically I would have our days planned out with activities and errands to keep us busy.  But this...this was unplanned and my somewhat OCD mind was racing! Then I had an idea: we would bake! It would take up a  lot of time, be somewhat educational for them, and at the end of the day we would have something delicious to share together.

I told the kids of my plan and they were thrilled! Having bought a brownie mix the week before, I thought this would be the best place to start. Until...no eggs! No EGGS! I was in trouble and my kids were not going to let me off the hook easily.

Normally I would just walk next door and ask one of my friendly neighbors. That’s what they are for! But we had recently moved into our new home and at that moment I realized I had not taken the time to introduce myself to those around me.

I can come up with many reasons for why I had not introduced myself (busy unpacking, busy running my business, busy being a wife and mom) but I won’t lean on those excuses. Truth is I should have gone over the first week and said a simple hello.

Since I didn’t know any of the neighbors and the roads were too bad to drive on, my only option was to scrap the baking and I was sentenced to playing endless hours of dress-up, Candyland, and watching several Disney movies.

And what did I take away from this? Neighbors are terrific resources but only if we actually get to know each other! To that end, my new project for the week will be to knock on every door on the street and introduce myself. I will even steal an idea from my old neighbor who had made a chart of every person on the street with address, phone number, and ages of their kids and then distributed the list to everyone on the block. So get ready neighbors, I am coming for you...and your eggs!

Thinking about moving to a new neighborhood? Then contact me, Shannon Milligan, at Home Sweet Henrico today! I would be happy to show you around and extend some neighborly advice!