Hiddy Ho There, Neighbor!

In honor of what would have been Mister Rogers 83-5/6th birthday, I want to ask, "Who are the people in your neighborhood?"

Last night I drove through a neighborhood in my community that I particularly like. It has neatly and closely arranged Cape Cods made of brick or stone, and the yards are full of tall trees and children's toys. There's something about this neighborhood that says "We're friendly and down to earth here. You would like us."

Like many suburban areas, my township is made up of different neighborhoods, including:

• The "It" neighborhood where people with status (and money) live
• The country club neighborhood where the rest of the money lives
• The party neighborhood where beer drinkers feel most at home
• The helpful neighbors neighborhood where everyone pitches in to shovel snow, rake leaves, etc. I believe there's a fair amount of drinking taking place here as well.
• The mandatory "sketchy" neighborhood where you can probably get your bike stolen

Mine could best be defined as "closest to a major highway neighborhood." It's a commuter's dream. It's also a circle which means the borders of our neighborhood are extremely well-defined.

I like my circle and don't even notice the highway noise anymore. I like that:

• There are lots of kids, including a few who are the same age as mine
• Most of these children leave me alone
• The one who did cause trouble seems to have outgrown his criminal phase. We think.
• The ladies have a book club
• My neighbors are cool enough to invite to our annual bonfire. This keeps them from reporting us to the authorities.
• It's diverse.

Now that last bullet point may surprise some of you who probably assumed I live in lily white suburbia with all middle class families. In reality, my circle may be one of the most diverse neighborhoods in our township. For example, we have:

• Chinese immigrants
• A mini United Nations family with an Italian husband by way of South America and an Indian wife. Their beautiful baby girl is a stunning combination of the two.
• Required crabby old lady
• Single mom with an adopted biracial daughter.
• African American families
• Families that can't be bothered with anyone else (a.k.a. "family with really high hedges")
• The 20-something grandson living with his grandmother, having a BBQ with friends, drinking beer, and playing wiffle ball about every other weekend (My invite has apparently been lost in the mail)
• A Jewish family
• A three-legged dog
• A guy who rides a noisy motorcycle
• A first generation Irish girl married to an Irish boy
• A man who runs constantly. Seriously. Always. Running.

We used to have a bitter old German lady when we first moved in, but she moved back to Germany because she didn't like where we stored our trash cans. 

If this sounds like a neighborhood you would enjoy living in, you're in luck! Four houses on the circle are currently for sale. I'm not sure if that means there's a radon problem or if folks are fed up with GPS burglaries, but really, it's a great place to live. And the realtors haven't even sponsored this post.

If you're interested in seeing my neighborhood, give a shout. I'd love to show you the three-legged dog!