Tari–
Yes! There were no strangers after the storm and everyone has been generous. Plenty of neighborhood work parties. My 16yo earned close to $200 this week that wanted maintenance beyond the neighborly done and I’ve been pleased to see how entrepreneurial he suddenly became.
Without power, the streets were full of the sound of children playing, it sounded like the neighborhood of my youth. Sadly, the volume decreases as power returns and the kids withdraw to the interior of their houses.
The neighbor guy who was such a jerk will always be a jerk, but now he’s a friendly one.
Our house backs up to another subdivision, with different entrances, there is no interaction. The neighbors in back have been in their house 23 years, we’ve been here 4 and would never have met if the fence hadn’t come down.
Here in the Energy Corridor many woman hold the fort down while their husbands are out of the country for months at a time. It’s strong families and strong women who manage households, parenting and natural disasters while spouses are in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and so on. These women have always had my respect, but it was ratcheted up enormously after watching them handle Ike on their own, their mental attitude and well-earned
resilience helps them to cope a heckuva lot better than others. (Yes, I realize that I’ve just described military spouses as well, you have my respect and gratitude for your sacrifices.)
