Putting the Neighbor in the 'Hood

Remember my post on my favorite blogs? Well, the Sticklers have been unveiling their beautifully renovated home room by room. To begin the reveal she wrote a wonderful post about the Lord's 'renovation' of our hearts. I emailed her to tell her how much I appreciated the post, as it was very timely for me.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the subject, being in the middle (as always) of my own renovation. I feel like with every move, God teaches me over and over again, that this world is not my home. I can try to create my own version of home, here on earth, but, by and by I will fall short. What's more, without the right motives, all of my efforts will be in vain.

We sold our beloved little house last week. I have some mixed emotions about it. Thankfully, it sold in just a few days to a sweet girl, who I know will love it. She had been 'eyeing' it for over a year. We are excited for her, and are in desperate need of more space. I am a little sad. I have loved this house. I have loved having two wonderful friends as next door neighbors, one on either side. It is almost surreal and rather Mayberry-ish. I hadn't really thought about what this move will mean for us, until yesterday. My roofer was asking me if I liked 'living over here.' Like it? He OBVIOUSLY doesn't live anywhere near here, because everyone who lives here knows, you don't just LIKE living here, you LOVE it.

To the naked eye, we live on a 1920s -1930s 'working class' street. Our homes were built by 'working class' builders who, for the most part, were great friends with whomever they were building for. My personal house was built by the father of a well-known realtor here in Troy, and grandfather to one of my best friends. It was built for the single daughter of the people who built my next door neighbor's house. There used to be a brick patio connecting the two houses. It is now covered with a lawn. The houses were then bought by best friends. The older people who live on my street remember 'the ladies' having coffee on that patio every morning. They also added a koi pond. The pond is still there. It has been covered up with dirt and has monkey grass growing in it. I had good intentions of bringing it back, but, never did.

Our street is very important to the history of our city. The neighbors are quick to inform anyone about that. Our fine street has raised a few of the local celebrities. Jean Lake and Wiley Sanders both grew up here. If you ever have the chance to ride around town with an older person, they have many fond memories of playing on these lawns. They can tell you who built each of these homes, who grew up in them and often times who lives there now. If they don't know who lives there now, I do. Ask any of the neighbors and they know who lives there as well. We are such a diverse fun mix of old and young, white collar, blue collar, single, married, with children and without.

To be honest, some people who live in Troy, and don't live over here don't quite 'get it.' I have heard people who grew up here say,"When I was growing up, that neighborhood was not like that..." Um, yes it was. This street is not the trendy new place to build. We have way too many trees for that. We don't have a gated entry, although, if Joy were telling this story, we do have a gatekeeper. We don't have matching mailboxes, however, when a neighbor was away at war we did all have matching yellow ribbons, until his return. Our houses are all different shapes, sizes and styles. I teach my kids about architecture while they ride their bikes. Our homes do not reflect our salaries, in fact, almost everyone is doing some sort of update, upgrade, or necessary repair. We are all very proud of our neighborhood, of our homes, of their 'pedigrees', and even a little snobby about them.

We have truly out grown our home. Some might say we out grew it two kids ago. Several of the neighbors have asked me why we don't just stay on this street. Well, I would love to, but, in order to do so I would have to loose good neighbors.

We aren't going far, but we will miss it just the same. Excitingly, we will be here for one more secret egg hunt. By the way, does anyone have the letter or the story that The Messenger ran on it? I need the poem. We will be back for Trick-or-treating next year. I am sure it won't be the same. I hope Lauren will let us park here for the hay-ride. (Don't forget to dress up Lauren. Yes, even the adults do) I will miss the un-official Annual Saturday Spring Clean Up. That is, unless it is 70 degrees this Saturday, and all of my neighbors are out in their yards cleaning up and planting flowers. But, as I said before, it's un-official, so, who knows which spring Saturday it will be? I will miss coming outside on some random day to see bikes parked in my yard that don't belong to any of my children. I will miss after school football games that span several front yards. I will miss the early evening walkers, and the fact that they walk right in the middle of the street. I will now have to drive my children over to the legendary "longest driveway on (the) street" to sit in the rocking chairs with it's very proud owners, while my kids ride their bikes up and down and raid the "kids fridge" lovingly stocked with everyone's favorite drinks.

All of these things are so home-y and a wonderful picture of what life should be like. I would love to never leave. I especially do not want to move all of my things into a Mobile Attic and rent until our renovation is complete. I should fuss at Al for putting our house up so soon. Considering the market we are in right now, he thought it might take some time to sell. I am excited about getting to know new neighbors. I am excited about new neighborly traditions. All in all, my new street is really great. However, with the for-sale sign, the Mobile Attic, the in between house, and, leaving the coolest place in Troy to live, I need to be reminded that this world is not my home.