Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Living in The Village

I hate my house.  HATE it.

Well, okay, maybe that's a little harsh.

I really don't like my house.

It's too small.  The builder did a shoddy job.  The wiring is faulty.  The carpet is cheap and badly in need of a cleaning.  There is no pantry.  It's too small.  The original paint (still in a few upstairs rooms) was hideous.  There is nowhere for visitors to park.  The people renting across the street like to swear at each other, with the windows open, at 2am.  Did I mention it's too small?

Okay, fine, I hate my house.

But I refuse to move if it means leaving this neighborhood.

We moved here almost sight unseen.  In fact, the first time I laid eyes on the house, or the neighborhood, was the day we pulled up with the moving van and a front door key.  Chris flew up and spent a day with a realtor, looking at houses and taking pictures, which he then shared with me.  After a lot of thought and prayer, we settled on a place and made an offer.

We've lived here six years now.  In June, Vicki "graduated" out of the same school she started attending in kindergarten.  There is a core group of families that we've met since that day in 2005 that I consider to be as good as family; people I love to spend time with, and who I trust with my children (and who I'm fairly certain trust me with theirs.)  I cannot imagine my life without these families as a part of it.

You've heard the phrase, "It takes a village to raise a child"?  Time and again since moving away from our "real" family, I have seen this in action.  These families have banded together to help look out for each other.  They have been my salvation on a number of occasions.  I've seen rides offered so that someone else's child doesn't have to miss out on a book club meeting.  I've seen watchful eyes kept on other's people's children on the school playground - I know that if something were to happen to me and I wasn't able to make it to the school on time to pick up my kids, several other parents would have my back.  I've seen countless impromptu playdates, arranged on the spur-of-the-moment with a "what's one more?" attitude.  I've seen parents willing (and even - dare I say it - excited) to look after my children on short notice when I've needed it most.

Maybe it's like this everywhere.  I don't know - I guess I never needed it before.  But I do know that we have our own amazing little Village here (might I just add that it's due in no small part to our wonderful neighborhood school), and I don't ever want to have to find a new one.


Village children and their gingerbread houses, Dec. 2010

I may hate my house, but I love my home, here in my Village.

6 comments:

  1. You have THE most amazing thing going on there. Good. Keep it. And see about finding a different house in the village. ;)

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  2. Our Village is small and humble... but its our Village and I am pretty sure we are in the minority because our families and our community matter most to us. That being said -there is a huge house in the Village, on my corner, for sale. We would love to have you!

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  3. It's nice to live in a village that you LOVE even if you hate your house! We literally lived in the village at the U of U married housing and it was also a nice village where we knew most of the people and it was safe and comfortable and beautiful. I hope I can live in a nice village one day!

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  4. "And in the end
    The love you take
    Is equal to the love you make."

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm in the opposite boat (sort of). I like my house fine (although it wont fit for too many more years) but the neighborhood is not the greatest. If I could have even found 1-2 families like the kid you describe it would have made the world of difference but so far no luck. Thankfully a bunch have just moved in and I am hopeful.

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