It's over for another year. Each year on the second Saturday in August, my family and I host a block party/corn roast for our entire neighborhood. It's a wonderful way to catch up with everyone and meet the new neighbors while missing those that have moved on to bigger and better things.
This year we found out one of our neighbors has stage 4 kidney cancer. We have not seen him since last year's block party and it was shocking to see him several pounds lighter and walking with a cane. He's putting up a valiant fight and has come a long way so maybe he will come out the victor in the fight against cancer. We only hope and pray he does.
Another neighbor stopped by with regrets that she couldn't come. They had planned too but had just gotten a phone call her 4-year-old grandson had just drown in a swimming pool and they were on their way to Michigan. She said they had revived him but it didn't look good. My thoughts and prayers were with her and her family throughout most of the party.
Others who typically brought their children came solo; the kids are now old enough to go off on their own and decided hanging with friends was more important than hanging with a bunch of old people.
There were divorces, deaths, marriages, graduations and babies. It's funny how it seems things never change but when you look at the whole picture, it's really that things are never the same. You can look out your window and see your neighbors busy doing something or going somewhere . You assume they will always be there and then one day you see a FOR SALE sign in the front yard and before long they are gone, replaced by a new set of neighbors. You stare at the same trees year after year and they look like they never change yet if you look at a picture a few years earlier, you will see how mother nature has taken over and even the trees have grown up.
Take time to appreciate your neighbors and get out and talk to them. There is so much more to life than just keeping the grass mowed and the driveway shoveled.
R. K. Avery
www.rkaverybooks.com
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