Mako Lane Block Party!!

This weekend we had our 3rd annual Mako Lane Block Party/Movie Night.  Nick and I love to foster the sense of community spirit and what better way to do it than with dinner and a movie.

We have about 47 homes on our side of the complex and we invited them all with a hand-delivered invitation and a fake movie-ticket to see an outdoor screening of Nim's Island. Just delivering the invitations helped us to meet some neighbors - some are old and crotchety, some are single and swinging, some don't wear pants (don't ask), some are new to the neighborhood, etc. About 15 families showed up, most of them with kids. We also invited some friends who had kids.  We played games, ate a ton of food, enjoyed some great music and entertainment, and watched a movie. It was a jolly old time and if you were there, thanks for coming!! (From the pictures, it looks like just my family and other adults were there, but I assure you, other kids were there but I don't like putting pictures of other people's kids on the internet.)

After living in a time and place where I could ride my bike around the neighborhood and where I could be gone for hours at a time at a neighbors house, we wanted to recreate that sense of security. When I was little and my parents came home from work, we would play outside until the streetlights came on.  Of course, times are different now, where we rush home after a busy day of work, taking the kids to soccer practice, picking up dinner, going to the dry cleaner and countless other errands, etc. and then we come home, park our car in the garage and close it behind us.  

I remember playing horses with my neighbor Lisa Fouchey and spraining my elbow on her front lawn while her sister Alison was spinning me around. I remember Alison letting me borrow her cowgirl costume for our school's Western Days Square Dance. I remember having mud wars with my neighbor Mark across the street and eating frosting for lunch with him on summer days before we could drive. I remember sitting at his house waiting for my parents to come home when I forgot my house key. I remember watching Wizard of Oz for the first time at Michelle's Braun's house. My parents would have never let me experience any of those things if they did not trust the parents of these kids and how do you earn trust from someone you don't know. (My dad is a social butterfly, I admit).

I think it's such an important feeling to feel safe in your own neighborhood. It leads to lower crime rates because everyone is looking out for each other and knows when a stranger does not belong there. I like being able to ask my neighbor to feed our cat when we're on vacation and I love the fact that two of my neighbors came by to check on us after our recent earthquake. I love that my neighbor volunteered his screen and projector for our movie night. I love being able to say hi and have a conversation with someone at the pool instead of acting like they're not even there. I love the fact that the neighborhood kids play in our cul-de-sac and the grown-ups are all especially on alert when the weird old guy tries to talk to them from the other side of the fence.

In my neighborhood, I don't like the saying "Don't talk to strangers".