Our Village

Four years ago Wonderful Wife, The Progeny and I packed up and moved 3000 miles to follow my job from Seattle to Boston. It was a very difficult decision to make given that all of our family is there, but I really liked my job and the economy was crashing so it seemed prudent. We came east with the plan that in 3-5 years we would find a way to get back to Seattle.

Totally by chance, we landed in this enchanting little town called Melrose. It's about 10 miles north of Boston. I refer to it as Mayberry because it is really is that neighborly and peaceful. We landed next to a family with three kids slightly older than ours and became instant friends. Very quickly we met a whole bunch of other families with kids in the neighborhood, and also old-timers like our neighbors across the street who have lived in this neighborhood for 50 years. We felt immediately welcome and became woven into the neighborhood fabric very quickly.

I hate to say these words in a place where our families will read them, but Wonderful Wife and I can't really envision what would ever make us leave.

There are other aspects of New England that we love: swimming in a warm ocean; being surrounded by historic places; the landscape; the traditions; even the climate!

But this post is about the people.

My sisters and parents and Wonderful Wife's parents will all visit sequentially starting in a week to provide support and child care through the summer. Wonderful Wife will become more focused on me and family support will allow her to not worry about the kids or making dinner, etc. We're looking forward to their help.

But we had two weeks to cover before family starts to arrive. Wonderful Wife composed an email to neighbors and to moms of the The Progenys' closest classmates asking for a little bit of help on certain days.

The response was overwhelming. Literally.

The girls have had lots of play dates at friends' homes. They've had a couple of days of all-day summer camp. And friends have taken them on outings to fun places. Plus other friends and neighbors have brought us some delicious dinners. Two of our more tech-savvy neighbors created an online calendar to track times we needed coverage and volunteers signed themselves up for the slots.

The first week went very well with all that great support.

All this instant and unquestioning help has made us love Melrose even more than we already did.

Thank you!