Welcoming Neighbors
On Saturday night, I was babysitting two girls who live on the street next to me. We were watching Barbie when the doorbell rang. I went to answer the door and saw a man, his daughter, and a little dog. When I opened the door they introduced themselves and handed me homemade brownies and a sheet of paper with a description of their family. I explained to them that I did not live here and was just staying until 11, but that I lived in the white house right next to theirs. Our backyards go into one another and the dad said he had seen me playing lacrosse. They had just moved here from Chatham and were going around to each of the surrounding houses to introduce themselves. I talked to them for about 10 minutes and then told them that my sister was not home but my parents should be. When I called my mom she said they were out to dinner, so I knew they would miss meeting the new neighbors. When I got home from babysitting I told my mom how I had met the dad and daughter and how nice they were. I told them we should be the ones making an effort to get to know them. So Sunday morning my mom, sister, and I walked over to their house. They were so happy that we came and could not have been nicer. It made me feel good to see how much it meant to them that we came and they were excited to get to know us. It was a simple 2-minute walk that really made a positive impact in their day and hopefully made them feel more welcomed into Madison.