lovely neighbours

Today I am ever so grateful for kind and patient neighbours. We are blessed to live in a large culdesac, which houses many rambunctious children under the age of 9. This is perfect because my children fit in perfectly. Most days breeze past with laughter, bike riding, monster tag, and four square. However, there must be opposition in all things, therefore occasionally we experience a bad day.


As of late the new infatuation is climbing trees, in particular a large pine located in one of the back lots. All of the children in our culdesac have been told not to climb that tree, and yet daily we are prying youngsters out of its branches. Yesterday was no exception. Peyton, along with two close friends decided to make a fort amongst it's needles. All was well until an argument broke out about who should sit where in the fort. The argument turned to yelling. The yelling turned to face reddening screaming, which then turned to hitting, crying, and name calling. I could hear the fight snowballing from my open balcony doors, as I quickly tried to finish changing Camdens diaper. By the time I finished and raced outside, the two friends had been pulled home by their parents and Peyton sat crying on his bike in front of the mailbox avoiding my gaze.

The infamous tree

This is where the gratitude takes place. It would of been easy for us as neighbours to punish our own children and avoid each other for the coming weeks. But we happen to be surrounded by incredible people. Each of us has our own religion or belief system, but our family values happen to be the same. We found ourselves each grabbing our 6 year old by the hand and bringing them back outside to find some resolution. There were apologies, forgiveness, and a friendship renewal. I will always be grateful for parents who take the time to instill good values in their children. And for neighbours who try to be more then just neighbourly, but loving neighbours.