To Know Them Is To Love Them

We hear so much these days about the demise of community. Our culture is in love with the concept of convenience and this tends to drive us to do everything faster and better. Neighborhoods suffer from this as we all jump into our cars, head off to our jobs, dash to the grocery store, dash home, and then hole up inside to use all our modern covenience appliances!

I think front porches ought to be a code requirement for all homes! Gone are the days when we'd stroll up the street in the evening and stop and chat with our neighbors who were sitting on their porches enjoying the waning day. Now we're either inside the house or out in the back on our decks, secluded by the fences we've all built for privacy.

Last night was the 7th annual Vallette Street ice cream social held in the front yard of our neighbors up the street. Each year this gracious hosting family hands out fliers announcing the date of the social. At the appointed time you can see families walking up the street to gather in the host family's front yard for homemade ice cream, toppings and conversation. It's such a treat to have this opportunity to really get to know the folks we live in proximity to and it reminds me again of one of the things I most miss about the "olden days."