The young couple who live next door to me

[MineralMan]

dropped by this evening with their two children, about 5 and 3 years old. The reason for their visit? They wanted to let me know that they were having a children's party tomorrow afternoon and that there might be a bit of noise. I laughed and told them that the kids were welcome to make as much noise as they wanted. They told me that they had rented one of those bouncy houses. I thought about that and realized that it would take up much of their backyard, so I told them they were welcome to put it in my backyard if that would be more convenient. We don't have a fence between our yards, just a continuous lawn that we both mow at about the same time each week. They liked the idea.

This is a neighborhood right smack in the middle of St. Paul, MN. It's a biggish city, but that's what this neighborhood is like. Few fences. Nice neighbors. Lots of diversity. My wife and I have been invited to Hmong family parties, have shared roast goat at a home with a Somali family, and have hosted a block barbeque.

The American neighborhood lives on. Not everywhere, I suppose, but in this working class neighborhood with a mix of families with children and old farts like me, it still lives on. As far as I can tell, it's not all that different from how things were in the small town neighborhood I grew up in in the 1950s.

I just wanted to post something good and normal that is happening here in the city. Life goes on apace.

[seabeyond]

1. my niece used my house last sunday for 5 yr old daughters bday, with a bouncy.

we have a big yard and lots of trees for shade. it was fun having so many over, .... outside, enjoying the day.

have fun.

[MineralMan]

2. Thanks! I will have fun.

I love the sound of children playing. What nice parents they have, too. It should be great.

[loli phabay]

3. bah humbug, i hate kids parties ;)

seriously though i always get sent on errands or something when its kids party time, just not my thing though my kids love them

[seabeyond]

27. lol... i had so many years of them. they got my yard, i got my house. lol. nt

[rgbecker]

4. Thanks for the sunshine. Hope everyone has a great time.

[taterguy]

5. I was wondering what was going on in your neighborhood this weekend

NOT

[MineralMan]

6. Well, you can just get off my lawn, then.

Harumph!

[taterguy]

8. I'm not on your goddamn lawn

[MineralMan]

10. Well, see that it stays that way, then.

Or I'll shake my cane at you angrily and mutter obscenities under my breath.

[Loudestlib]

24. Well played Sir.

[taterguy]

25. Are you threatening me?

[Katashi_itto]

41. Make sure you stay off my lawn tatertot

Also I would never call you a dumbass. I might think it though. Though if I actually thought that is a matter of conjecture. Let me go sit on my lawn and contemplate if I thought that.

[awoke_in_2003]

43. I need TP for my bunghole. nt

[CoffeeCat]

46. hahahhahaah!!!

I get it. Damnit Beevis!

Hilarious!

[awoke_in_2003]

49. ...

http://m.

[loli phabay]

7. rofl, well in mine its getting closer to deer season so i presume its sighting in time

so lots of gunfire and probuably some bonfires, i will keep you up to date if any wildlife gets pinged okay.

[orpupilofnature57]

9. My brother has been a coach at Bethel University for 20yrs

We were brought up in upstate NY where neighborhoods still exist, but my parents said that the people in Minnesota were the friendliest people they have ever met.

[MineralMan]

11. It sometimes seems so, but it's not true everywhere here.

These old neighborhoods, where people are still raising families are like that, though.

[blaze]

19. My Denver neighborhood is like that

I am SO lucky to live on the block that I do!!!

Great neighbors!!!!!

[MineralMan]

20. I'm glad to hear it.

I've always liked visiting Colorado.

[BobbyBoring]

70. I've found that to be true as well

The little bit of time I spent was some of the happiest. Coming from DC, I wasn't used to people being so nice to each other for no reason.

I guess to live in that harsh environment in the winter, you have to be!

[orpupilofnature57]

72. And coming from that Bubble in Mesopotamia

it's got to feel warmer.

[ailsagirl]

12. Make sure everything is secured because those things have caused lots of accidents

You might tell the parents about this link:

http://www.rideaccidents.com/inflatables.html

Don't mean to be a wet blanket, but I am aware that lots of accidents have occurred on these types of rides.

Otherwise, sounds like a great party!! Enjoy

[MineralMan]

13. I'll leave that to them.

There will be a flock of parents watching over the children, no doubt.

[ailsagirl]

45. Enjoy!!

[panader0]

26. About a year ago my son asked me if he could bring a "half pipe" skateboarding deck out to the

country place where we live. I said sure, he still liver here then and it would be fun for him and his skater buddies.
It was huge. I had to pull out my transit and get eight guys to help set it up.
Then it hit me that someone could get seriously injured. I thought about making the kids sign a waiver, but never did. I have no insurance.
No one was seriously hurt. Skaters brag about their wipeouts. I have heard about kids injured in the bouncing castles.

[loli phabay]

31. your lucky if someone was hurt they would be living in your house now

[Kindly Refrain]

14. My neighbor sometimes mows a chunk of my yard

that's hard for us to reach and in return we give them tomatoes, potatoes, etc. from our garden. Having good neighbors is a good thing.

[MineralMan]

17. Nice.

My two next door neighbors and I have a competition each time it snows to see who gets the front sidewalk cleared first for all three houses. It's a toss-up so far over the past couple of years.

[blaze]

22. hahaha!

My neighbor and I share shoveling duties. I'm up stupid early in the morning, so I get first shift. She works from home, so works day shift. The heavy duty shifts from one to the other according to storms, but neither of us has to shovel more that 6 or 8 inches at a pop which is a great deal!!!

[blaze]

23. My neighbors mow a patch of lawn out front for me

on a pretty regular basis.

I'm single and love to cook but can't manage to cook for one.... I give them edible goodies and they mow. It's a great deal!!!

[Curmudgeoness]

15. How nice of them to warn you!

I think that one of the biggest problems many people have is that others are just not considerate of them.

Nice story. I hope everything goes well.

[MineralMan]

16. It'll be great.

I have to remember to remind them that they can grab my long picnic table and benches tomorrow morning.

[The Wielding Truth]

80. You are so gracious. My question is. Did they invite you?

[MineralMan]

84. Not to this party.

It was all children, their parents, etc. We have barbequed together a couple of times, though.

[The Wielding Truth]

86. Good. Barbecues are the perfect neighborhood thing. You are a good neighbor.

[kayakjohnny]

18. Very good post. Just what people need to hear now.

Thanks.

[MineralMan]

21. Thank you. It sure made me smile. nt

[Myrina]

28. Good on ya! I'd have been on the porch with a pellet gun.

I despise small children.

[MrMickeysMom]

29. The people shall lead...

We are the people...

[randome]

35. Well, if you weren't people, what would you...never mind!

Good vibes all around!

[Honeycombe8]

30. You know, if one of those kids gets injured on your property, you're responsible.

Step in a hole, fall out of the bouncy thingie onto a hard yard, slip and fall and hit a rock with his head. You probably won't be there to be a witness, either.

Hate to be a Debbie Downer, but that's the way it is. Hosting a bar-b-que? Good idea. Letting a group of someone else's excited kids bounce around in your yard, esp. if you're not with them? Worth a second thought. Hope you have good homeowner's ins.

[Angry Dragon]

32. ...........

[FirstLight]

33. *sigh* thanks for a little bit of goodness

I live in a rural Mtn town and have gotten to love my little neighborhoods, the locals up here watch out for eachother to some extent because of regular snow issues and power outages... but sometimes it's just the coolness of realizing the guy with the snowblower across the street has just cleared your walk before you even got your boots on we have an older lady on the street that has cancer, me and the kids always check in on here ot keeop her spirits up too.

I miss the closeness of my old growing up neighborhood, the one older lady had a toy drawer and we all knew where it was...so when the moms stopped by for coffee, we'd go amuse ourselves, or play in her huge backyard... all the parents seemed to know eachother too, and we had neighborhood kids over for parties...unfortunately, while i have nice neighbors, they are nowhere near that memory.

but ya, people, man...that's where the Heart is, right?

[Egnever]

34. Nice to see there are still good neighbors out there.

I was getting a little worried after reading responses to another thread hear about a mom getting arrested for letting her kids play outside,

[a kennedy]

36. You da man MineralMan....

[SleeplessinSoCal]

37. You sound well suited to your neighborhood. Thanks for sharing.

[Orrex]

38. You're a complete fool

If you don't score some time in that bouncy house.


Nice story--thanks for sharing!

[nolabear]

39. We're having a city dooryard cocktail party tomorrow evening.

We have a little walled off dooryard on a busy street but my husband is the friendly type and we have in fact met many of our neighbors. And he's recently gotten fond of mixology so will be throwing the last of a series of cocktail parties wherein he experiments on friends and droppers-by.

It's a really fine bunch. We're all in various stages of life but no little kids.

Don't you love how diverse neighborhoods in America can be?

[ErikJ]

40. Careful of the wind.

[Egnever]

48. Thats nuts

[JHB]

71. I suspect MineralMan doesn't have a yard that big...

Outside of a heavy storm, his house and the neighbors' houses would break up the sort of gust needed to do that.

[IVoteDFL]

42. This is a lovely story.

I live in North St. Paul. It really is a wonderful place to live. Most of my neighbors are friendly. There is even a woman around here who drives people without a vehicle to the polling place on election day.

[BadGimp]

44. thank you for this post!

[Jennicut]

47. Ahh, bouncy houses. That is my life.

My daughters have had several of those at their birthdays. Last birthday (a joint one as they are born a year apart in the summer) we just decided to go to the place where all the jumpy stuff is. They have places now that have tons of jumping, sliding, blown up obstacle course thingies. It's all fun but when the 30 something parents start enjoying it more the the kids do it's time to go home.
And I doubt you are an old fart. Older maybe, but the fart part is reserved for Clint Eastwood types.

[shireen]

50. that sounds like a wonderful place to live

i just bought a house in the Baltimore suburbs. It's a nice location, real quiet area, and a good (albeit dated) house. Later, I found out that it used to be a historically Black neighborhood. But only one Black family and a Black church remain, almost all the residents i've seen are White. (I'm of Asian Indian descent, the only other dark-skinned person besides the Black family that i've seen.) That loss of diversity made me feel sad.

As for neighbors, i've meet two since i moved here (a month ago). One seems to be a nice person. But the neighbor next door is an elderly man who threatened to sue me twice during our first conversation. I'm guessing its early dementia, still not a nice welcome.

Your neighborhood sounds perfect. I love the way you described it.

[JDPriestly]

51. Sounds like my neighborhood!

[AverageJoe90]

52. Nice story, MineralMan, thank you for sharing. =)

[B Calm]

53. I have a small farm pond and every kid

around the area comes here to swim and fish. I've had neighbors have their entire family over here for outings.

You are the kind of person I would like for a neighbor!

K&R

[MineralMan]

67. That's great.

There's a small lake a few blocks from my house, and I often see kids on their bicycles carrying fishing poles riding over there to go fishing. That always makes me smile.

[Freddie]

54. I'm jealous

We moved here when this was a brand new development and most families had very young kids; ours were 12 and 8, a bit older than most. Didn't take long for the stay-home moms to accuse the kids of the working moms of causing trouble "because your moms not home". As a working mom I had enough of this crap early on and basically avoided many of the people on the block except my wonderful neighbors next door. That was 14 years ago, my kids are productive citizens and the "little darlings" with SAHMs are now teenagers smoking on their porches.

[yardwork]

55. What a nice post! k&r

[riderinthestorm]

56. If they don't take it down until the next day, be sure to take Mrs. MineralMan out there after dark

and uh, bounce around some...

[irisblue]

57. sound of kids playing

I live in a working class neighborhood. It's often quiet these last few years, I actually saw 3 canadian geese walking, yes walking down our street. I imaging the number of trees with just changing leaves prevented a careful take off. The house directly across the street has one high school boy in some type of special needs school, two grade school girls, this summer the mom watched other kids for working parents. Their small dog had a great time, my senior citizen dog, loved the girls fawning over her on short visits. The guy next to them is an immigrant from ghana, next to me is a 90ish year old man, one of the original owners on the street, my other side is a single mom with boomerang kids. and them there is the 4 families who moved in at the far end of the block, spanish/english speaking, this summer they were teaching the kids to ride bikes, I was relearning how to ride a bike, so there were a fair number of us moving up and down the street, wobbling. And then there is us, the lesbian couple, with the well tended front yard with flowers, trees and a dog who supervises.
Mineral Man, the small town is just more overtly, diverse, but I know my blessings in having this. nice topic, thanks

[MineralMan]

63. Thanks for your comment.

It sounds like you live in a good place.

[madmom]

58. Sounds like the neighborhood I grew up in, in

Columbus Ohio. We had a lot of diversity, some called the neighborhood the United Nations, lol. Then a nose in the air realtor bought the house right smack in the middle and put up a fence. No one could understand why, they had two pre-teens kids. They also had an all white living room, white furniture, white carpet etc. It has a sheet of clear plastic up to the inside door so no one, including their own kids, could go in there, only "special company". What gives with these kinds of folks?

[lunatica]

59. I always like your stories about your neighborhood

[MineralMan]

64. That's very nice of you to say.

When they have some broader meaning, I like to write them.

[blueamy66]

60. sounds like a fun time

I would do the same if I could.

We have some great neighbors too.

[uponit7771]

61. " Nice neighbors. Lots of diversity."...Every nieghborhood I lived in that was good had this

[MineralMan]

66. That's an important point, I think.

I agree with you. It seems like diversity in a neighborhood brings a variety of ideas to it, and yet each family has the same basic concerns, regardless of their cultural references. It's great to see that and to be part of it.

[LannyDeVaney]

62. Thanks!

Your story really made me smile. Have a great day!

[etherealtruth]

65. Thanks for sharing

I think we all sometimes forget that human beings are generally 'good' ... we focus on the aberrations.

[HipChick]

68. Great story MineralMan...It took years for my neighbors to approach me..

If I recall, no-one said a word to me, until 9/11 happened...then it seemed like everyone was desperate to find out who they were living next to..

[MineralMan]

69. There are a few people who live on my block

who make a point of welcoming new neighbors. When my wife and I moved in in 2004, a couple of neighbors dropped by on move-in day, bearing food. Very old-fashioned of them. Since then, we've done the same to new neighbors. We have a new next door neighbor who moved in late this spring, a single mom with an 8 year old kid. On move-in day, I came out, introduced myself and pitched in to help move furniture, since it was just her, her mom, and a couple of sisters who were moving her in. Now, we're on great terms, which is a good thing, since we share a driveway between us.

It costs nothing to try to develop good relations with people, but pays huge benefits.

[MineralMan]

73. Well, the party is now underway, and the sounds of kids

laughing and yelling is coming through my windows. I ended up loaning the parents a couple of tables and a bunch of lawn chairs, too. They plugged the bouncy house into my outdoor GFI outlet, and the fan is whining away. The adults are all sitting around watching the kids, who are bouncing around in the bouncy house. Everyone's eating pizza and drinking sodas. I'm watching the University of Nebraska kicking the butts of some Arkansas high school with ashtrays.

Seems like a normal Fall Saturday. It's good.

[davsand]

74. The sound of kids having fun is a form of music, I think.

Good for you for letting the neighbors enjoy life and for helping them out a little bit! Out where I came from we call it "neighboring" and it is becoming a lost art. It is viewed with some disdain in some circles, but it really is something that makes our lives better, and re-affirms how connected we all are. I only wish more places had guys like you living there.

It may not be popular in all circles, but I have always considered the sounds of kids playing and having fun to be one of life's pleasures. To me, it is every bit as beautiful and peaceful as any bit of music ever written because it is the sound of ultimate joy and fun. I view kids as a gift--no matter if they belong to me or anybody else. Because of your generosity you are a blessed man.



Laura

[MineralMan]

76. I have no children of my own, by choice.

So, I have to depend on other people's children for the pleasure of hearing them have fun. Fortunately, there are plenty of them nearby.

[davsand]

81. Choice or involuntary--either way--not having kids is not always the same as disliking them.

Sad that any of us have to offer any comment about our decisions or physical ability to parent or not, but that really is the way of it. None of us have any real imperative to procreate, yet there really is some sort of strong pressure to do so--be it external or internal. I apologize if anything I said made you feel pressure to offer comment about your life in that way.

We have one child and I can't count the number of people over the years who have asked me why we only had one. Sometimes, when I am in a down and evil mood I want to spin some horrid tale of fountains of blood and agony beyond human understanding that resulted in permanent sterility for my husband or for me just to make the questioners feel bad for asking. Most often I tell them the truth that the Docs said don't do it again, and we were happy leaving our family at one child. Ya gotta know, however there are days...

Peace to you!



Laura

[calimary]

75. Our neighborhood is pretty mellow like that, too. Block party every year

in the cul-de-sac up the street and everybody for two blocks comes and brings food. And if you're not from the two blocks, c'mon in and join us anyway! So most of us know each other. It's a great neighborhood! We feel very fortunate!

Some new neighbors with young kids moved in a couple of months ago and they evidently have kids because the decibel level went up. Their kids apparently met the kids who live in the house on the other side, and they've been having a great time together in their backyards. There are fences and stuff but everybody has entree. There are many dogs here in my neighborhood too and you always see a lot of the neighbors out walking their dogs. In many cases, the dogs are friends too.

[KoKo]

77. Nice to see such an uplifting article! K&R!

[BabbaTam]

78. so sweet

I do care what's going on in your yard and it made me a little moist in the eye department. Thanks for the sweet slice of American pie.

[Meandering1]

79. I visited my neighbor today

a person I'd never met before. Had good reason, lost my cellphone and needed him to call mine in order to find it. Kinda sad really but what the heck? Maybe we'll become friends later.


In years past I lived in neighborhoods where everyone knew each other but not any more. My kids sometimes went on play dates growing up but did have a local family w/kids their age. That was sweet.

[Rowdyboy]

82. My partner and I live in a small southern town (Mississippi), know almost all of our neighbors, and

really like them. He and I hosted last years neighborhood Halloween costume party (adults only) and had 50-75 guests. Our backdoor neighbor is our city alderman and I get to "pass the peace" with him on Sundays (he sits behind me in our neighborhood Episcopal church). He's a Cajun and make the most kick ass gumbo I've ever eaten.

Last spring we were invited to the chistening of a young neighbors' baby and I gave them copies of books that I read my god-daughter 30 years ago. Good and normal things still happen, even for old farts like me. And, yes, life goes on apace. But life is far too short and often awfully sad. When its sweet, you should celebrate it all you can.

[Beartracks]

83. So cool and heartwarming! Thanks for posting. I was afraid...

... that the American neighborhood was waning, if only because it seems that most places I've lived in my adult life the neighbors all stick to themselves and I'd be hard-pressed to know the names of people two doors down from me. I'd always attributed this perceived problem to people working longer hours, children playing more video games (i.e. being indoors), people being fearful of crime and strangers, folks being more transient in terms of job relocations, etc. Now........ I'm starting to wonder if maybe I'm just being too damn private and stand-offish!!

(Case in point: It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting inside posting things to an online forum. Oh, the irony... LOL)

==============================

[elbloggoZY27]

85. Just Alike Me

Great post. I grew up at a time when your neighbors were also your friends. Lived in a huge apartment building in Brooklyn NY and had many childhood friends. We visited each other, ate in their homes and played together. We even on summer evenings hung out with the seniors of our time.

Boys and Girls and Adults all one.

If I had a Time Machine I would be glad to ride back and say hello to all the departed. Sounds crazy but I lived one heck of a great childhood.

[47of74]

87. Awesome

Finally an older person who willingly gives up his or her yard to bring some joy into children's lives!

[appleannie1]

88. I have found there is usually one adult in every neighborhood that never was a kid themselves.

Your young neighbors were wise in feeling you out. We now have acres but fireworks are illegal. When I hosted a Fourth party, complete with fireworks, I invited all my neighbors. One sure way to insure no one called the police. They were all here enjoying the show.