I’ve mentioned before that (about a month ago) we moved to a town right outside of Seattle. It’s no secret that I was not excited about being in the ‘suburbs’, at all.
HOWEVER, the thing that has surprised me the most about our move is how much we love our neighborhood. Sure the walkability isn’t great (*sigh*) and it’s not the most beautiful area to walk around, but, our neighbors are great!
And this is how I know that to be true… we’ve actually met a lot of them!
In a place known for its ‘Seattle Freeze’, I’m shocked that we’ve met so many people after just a month of living here. We lived in our rental house in Seattle for two years and barely met anyone.
This has been our how-to-meet-neighbor secret:
Walk around. A lot. With small children.
The day after we moved in, another family came running out of their house to introduce themselves, because they have two girls the same age as our two girls. BONUS!
The neighbor across the street came over to introduce herself to me (that’s a whole other story in itself…) and ended up babysitting the two girls while I took a shower.
Then there are a few parents who Tim met while taking the girls on bike rides who have volunteered their kids to babysit ours – and of course we’ve taken them up on that offer!
I can’t believe how easy it is to meet people by just walking around and saying hello. (It doesn’t hurt that Tim will stop and talk to absolutely anyone and everyone.)
And it’s not just in Seattle it works…
A few weeks ago when we were in Las Vegas we were trying to burn some energy off after dinner, and we took the girls outside in our friends’ neighborhood to play a family game of tag. We were loud and I was afraid we were bothering people, but it turns out that it was a good meeting-people strategy. A mom and her kids came out of their house and chased us down the street to say hello! They had just moved into the neighborhood and were looking to meet families with young kids, and I felt so bad telling them that we didn’t actually live there! But we did have a really nice conversation.
So before it gets super cold and everyone heads inside for the winter, I want to urge you to get outside and meet your neighbors (if you haven’t already)! Or hang out in your front yard instead of your back yard! Take slow walks! Go on slow bike rides! I have a firm belief that most people love connecting, but everyone appears to be in too much of a rush for those connections to happen.
And if all else fails, make a batch of cookies and hand them out. Everyone loves cookies.
We absolutely love that we have friends in our neighborhood. There’s nothing like an impromptu porch happy hour, or golf cart ride. It’s the best.
I’m so glad to hear you’re liking your new neighborhood! I’m sure that’ll make a huge difference. I think having kids in a neighborhood where other people have kids about the same age can make it really easy to connect with your neighbors. Out of all the neighbors we had growing up, the only ones we regularly spent time with were the ones next door, because they had kids around the same age as my siblings and me. My parents would talk with the other neighbors, of course, and we all exchanged Christmas goodies (you know, the important things 😛 ), but the only ones who came over to our house and actually hung out with my parents were the ones next door – their kids would come over, so they’d come over, and the next thing you knew the grownups were hanging out with each other just like the kids!
I love this so much!!! The neighbors in our circle don’t have any kids our age, but whenever our kids see the neighbors on their back borch they run out and yell, “Hi NEIGHBORS!!” and wave to them through the window. When our neighbors to one side are out working in their yard, our kids can be found chatting with them through the fence and their girls inevitably end up in our yard playing with the kids, which helps me out. A good neighborhood is key to enjoying any area! I’m glad you have good neighbors!
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