Block Party!

To the cast of my play, I seemed crazy when I asked if we could have an earlier rehearsal so that I could go to my block party. "Why would you want to go to that?" they ask me and I simply responded with "Because I love my neighbors!" There were so many more reasons that I didn't want to explain to them because I wasn't quite sure they would understand how two simple hours of my summer could possibly mean so much to me. For me, the block parties have often been a wonderful time of coming together and getting to know those people who I see every single day. I watch them get into their cars every morning and we all return home around the same time. I know them by their dogs and the house they live in, not by their name. I have lived in the same house for 12 1/2 years and it has been a joy to watch this neighborhood grow up.

I've watched the houses grow higher, the trees grow taller and recently have noticed the children grow up. When I appeared at the caucus a few months back, I scared all my neighbors when they realized that the little five year old who they met is now old enough to vote in this presidential election. Just like me to them, the younger kids on the block are a joy to watch. There are three little kids on our street around the age of four and they were so fun to watch at the block party. They were taking advantage of the street that was closed off and riding their bicycles in it. When the party truly began was when the boy splashed some water on the girl and she retaliated by dumping a huge cup of water all over him...the fight had begun.

They were chasing each other with big red cups in hand and they were a joy for me to watch. Three of the girls who I grew up with on this street were watching too and we were loving it. Not so long ago, we were running around the block party too, but now rather than being the performers, we were the spectators, sitting in lawn chairs in our pretty dresses eating pesto pasta. We were talking about going to college for two of us, trying out for the high school soccer team for the other two. We've grown up since the water fight days, but that "grown-up" facade could only last so long. Hayden and I looked at each other, jumped up and joined in the water fight.

My dress was getting soaked as I was dumping cups full of water all over her head and chasing these two little kids up and down the street. I was getting tired and cold, so after I chased Hayden to the other end of the street, we called a truce and changed into dry clothes. When I went back to join the party, Shannon and Chelsea were now involved and looking even worse than I was. Then the fight turned neighborhood wide and everyone was either wet or holding up their cellphones as a type of shield. It was just so fun to watch the college bound Shannon in running down the street in her soaking wet party dress with mascara running down her cheek. To me, it was a sign that things will not change entirely.

Even though we're going separate directions for school and our lives are completely different, when it comes down to it, we'll always be there for each other. We went to the movie store after the party, picked up the fifth neighborhood girl and piled on to the couch for our final movie night before the big college separation. The five of us have grown up together and have all changed so much and will continue to change as the years go on, but for those few hours, it was as though nothing had changed. And it was beautiful.