Who Are the People In Your Neighborhood

sitting on my breezy front porch swing with a baby attached to my midsection i watch my girly 4 year old run around the front yard with nothing but a loose pair of jeans on. her short brown hair flying around her face as she gathers sticks and rubs them with pink chalk. this 4 year old is so different than my dress-up, jewelery wearing, purse carrying 4 year old i normally deal with. upon closer observation i see a pink chalk flower on her belly, there is the girly girl i know. my eldest wild child can be heard only, screams and giggles i hear coming from the house behind me where she daily runs to go play with the little girls that live there. i hear the front door open and close on the house next door, they must have let the dog out. my neighbor's car pulls into his driveway across the street and i get up off the swing to go show off my new offspring. he apologizes for not knowing i had had the baby, i tell him he's silly to apologize for not knowing i had the baby. from next door emerges my neighbor who is pregnant along with her 2 year old who immediately runs after beila. we learn she is going to have another boy, so the probability of her having a 3rd child is good. from across the street another neighbor comes over to chat. he and his wife just got back from a holiday to cape cod. we hear of his beach adventures and lobster dinners as my Greek's white landcruiser pulls up. it is nice to have him home. my pregnant neighbor's husband pulls up soon after as well and walks over to join our gathering in the driveway. the kids are all running around somewhere as we chat about babies, holidays, weather, moving, tulsa, and kids growing up. with all of this friendship surrounding me and my house, it is hard for me to understand how some people don't know their neighbors.