Come out, come out,
where ever you are

Just when it looked as if winter would steal away all the fun in life, we had a block party. A good, old-fashioned block party. Suddenly, our almost always empty street was full of people. There were adults, children and dogs...and food and drink. And...faces I don't remember ever seeing before.

"You just move in?" the man 3 doors down and across the street asked. "Eight years ago," I informed him (and not remember ever seeing him before. He'd been there 12 years).

Some identified me as, "You're the retired doctor, right?" Others, "You bought Teddy's house, right?" (Teddy Higgerau was a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers and, yes, we have his old house.) But most knew me as, "The kayak guy. I see you driving off with that thing all the time."

So it went. I made new friends and met some instresting people with interesting work. More than that, the place took on the feel of a neighborhood, just like back in the Sherman Park area where I grew up (and JB now lives...but I digress). I watched the kids, some near teen age and sassy, some just learning to walk, and it gave a completeness to the feel of the whole place.

We talked until after dusk as we warmed ourselves by the two fires that were lit. Since then, there's more waving, more recognition of one another, all because we came out.

Paddle safe...

DS