Yesterday we got lucky and the rain stopped early and the sun even came out for the gathering on our lawn. Bird feeders were made, plants were planted, petitions signed, but most importantly for the first time since the summer for many of us, neighbors got together and chatted. We got to meet neighbors we hadn’t met before. Our kids ran around and played.

Over the last few months, its become clear that our sense of community is disintegrating. You see it in the exchanges on social media and in the comments to the school board. Our isolation has left us dangerously detached from our neighbors. We need more gatherings – outdoors, distanced and masked of course. We need meetings that aren’t just business. We are all in too many Zoom meetings where its all business and then everyone logs out without asking how their families are, what they’ve been up to, what new TV shows they’re watching, books their reading and all the things that make us humans and not machines. We need to meet new people.

For our next neighborhood activity, I suggest the CRC cleanup on March 20. There’s a site nearby at Leiper Park. You can signup at the CRC website here, its site 360 on the list. We’ve done this activity at Taylor Arboretum for several years until the pandemic and its a great experience for all ages and important in keeping our waterways clean. Hopefully we’ll see some of our familiar neighbors and meet some new ones.