When are the people gonna come?
my four-year-old daughter asked me as we stared out at the empty street.
We were sitting on rocking chairs outside on our driveway.
I was feeling ridiculous.
I dont know if anyone is going to come, I told her.
But we can play here.
They did, one neighbor after another.
The idea sounded lovely.
Since becoming a parent, Ive become less mobile and have less time.
But our neighborhood was so quiet.
I longed for the old village well.
I wanted to be a Front Yard Person.
I de-bra, decompress and have zero Ned Flanders chirpiness in me.
Im happy to see friends, but we have to be able to zone out together.
Meeting new people sounded hard.
Schell acknowledges that it is.
Will they like me?
So finally, we did it.
So we brought out four rocking chairs and a side table and plopped them in the driveway.
I tried to think fast, and then I ran inside and put some popsicles in an ice cooler.
I put on some lip gloss and deodorant, too.
And then, my husband, daughter and I sat on the chairs, eating turkey sandwiches.
And we waited, and waited.
A few cars zipped past us.
So did a runner wearing headphones.
No one looked our way.
So … how long do we have to be out here?
Until bath time, I said.
That was two-and-a-half hours away.
I think your popsicles are gonna melt, he replied.
My daughter was getting antsy.
Did you text anyone?
Hmm, I should, I said.
Just live life, I told myself.
I brought out some toys that my daughter could play with, and we played.
We sat with a bucket of water and watched little spongy dinosaurs hatch out of capsules.
She sang Disney princess songs.
My husband and I drank wine.
A man with two dogs walked past us and said, Hello!
Its a beautiful evening!
We waved and said, It is!
Whether or not we created lasting neighborhood bonds, it was.
It was our neighbors whom we hadnt seen in a while.
I squealed with a little too much excitement.
They stayed for a while and we chatted.
Then they asked if we wanted to take a walk around the block.
The kids got on scooters and we turned on our flashlights.
We talked about work and life, and screamed when the kids almost rolled over a dead mouse.
Maybe this is a start.
I started looking wistfully at a dead patch of grass in front of our house.
A permanent little table could be nice there.
it’s possible for you to put up an announcement on NextDoor.com or even make flyers.
Hang out there regularly.Bring stuff to do, but dont work on something where youll need total concentration.
Here, you want to get interrupted.
