Attitude of Gratitude Challenge: Day 28 — Writing My Way to a More Thankful Heart

Today I am grateful for:
Neighbors. For part of my childhood, I grew up in a small neighborhood where we were friendly enough with one another that you could borrow a cup of sugar or milk from anyone on the block and you knew everyone’s names on your street. Stopping and chatting with the neighbors and playing with the neighborhood children was normal. When my parents and I moved from that neighborhood to a commuter town with large lots and no sidewalks, that kind of friendly-neighborly interaction ended.
As an adult, I’ve lived in a couple of neighborhoods that were only a little similar to my childhood experience but not even close to the same thing. I did hope a move to Wisconsin would mean finding neighbors who we could be friendly (and maybe even friends) with and my kids could have some friendships form with their fellow neighborhood kids.
I’ve lamented the fact that this hasn’t been the case. Not that we haven’t met some really nice people here in our village, we have, but things haven’t turned out as I had hoped. There are two huge exceptions though, and I am grateful for them.
Our neighbors — the Grajeda families, and the monks are the exceptions. What made me stop and think about this was several things over the past week: I needed to borrow a couple of things at different times, and it was not a big deal to ask both of them for this stuff. One day we needed a kitchen utensil, another day I was out of some ingredient. They’ve borrowed things from me too. It’s not a big deal. Also, Father Moses called and asked me if I needed anything from Costco since he was going there, I often do the same for him. Since we live far from stores, this is a nice way to help each other. Several of my kids went over to the Grajeda’s house for an eclipse lunch and some lessons, and on Sunday afternoon they were there hanging out. Last week, some of the Grajeda kids hung out at our place a few different days. All of this is normal activity for us.
So far, I’ve given too much thought to the adverse aspects of living where we do which are real, but they are not all that is happening. It’s true we don’t fit in too well here but I’m far more grateful for the good, and I’m going to make it a point to focus on the good because no place will ever be perfect.
