Neighborhood

The appearance of the fire truck at the end of our 4th of July Parade always causes great excitement.

This year we even had horses, which was my second favorite part.

THIS is my favorite part.  This is LaWayne, who puts together the monthly newsletter and her recently purchased El Camino.  I love it!!!

Gabriel was much happier than he looks in this picture.

The basketball goal that George and Billie gave us recently.  Their granddaughter, who is 11, finally outgrew it.

There are some who would have doubts about living in our neighborhood, and I will admit that we are in the midst of the "hood" and hear gunshots about once or twice a month.  I doubt anyone would pick our neighborhood for the school system either.  But I have grown to love this neighborhood during the three and a half years we've lived here.  We have an active neighborhood association with a great newsletter.  They have formed groups to fight various things threatening our area and have fought city hall on many occasions.  We all pulled together as a neighborhood and got the gas people to drill on the absolute outskirts of our neighborhood, and because so many held out we were paid handily for our acreage.  We have a neighborhood patrol in which residents volunteer to slowly drive the area for one hour apiece to watch for any suspicious activity.  Because of this group's vigilance, we have one of the lowest crime rates of any neighborhood in Fort Worth.  

And we have some really great neighbors.  I've talked on this blog about George and Billie next door.  They are in their eighties, but very spry and cognizant, and just the nicest people.  I take Gabriel over to play about once a month, and he loves them like another set of grandparents.  We bring each other cookies and banana bread, and chat in the yard every time we're both outside, which seems like all the time.  I've spoken about Helen too, the widow who lives across the street.  We go to the grocery store together once a week, and are becoming better and better friends.  When we called and emailed our friends and family to let them know about Jav getting a job, Helen and George and Billie were also on the list of people to call right away.  I would like to have them over for dinner sometime.  We don't know our other neighbors as well, but are on a first name basis with most of them, which feels good.

I love how diverse our neighborhood is, too.  We have a span of ages from young families with small children (younger than us, of course), families with teenagers, empty nesters, very elderly, and everything in between.  We have every race.  We have a representation of same-sex couples.  It was pretty neat to see all of these different groups represented at our recent annual 4th of July parade.  It was a fantastic turnout and an event that we now really look forward to (especially Gabriel due to the appearance of the fire truck at the end of the parade every year.)   Wednesday night we've been asked to show up with children in tow at our Park Association meeting to try and canvas for new playground equipment.  We're going, and hope to meet some more parents with young kids (besides the few I've met through the neighborhood Moms' Group.)  

I had some doubts about what it would be like when we moved in, but I am now convinced it's a great place to bring up our kids.