All Over The Place

I was reading my bro-in-law's website the other day, he posted "Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from Watching Sesame Street.

Being a 30 Something myself, I was also raised with Sesame Street. As I got older, we would watch it for other reasons while under the influence of very fun hallucinogens, but that's another story. Jory and I have had discussions about how kids are so different from when we grew up. The fact that kids don't play night games anymore saddens me, I want my kids to be able to play Kick The Can and Hide and Seek with the neighborhood kids. Or the fact that you rarely see kids playing outside anymore at all, they're all in playing video games or watching TV.

Most all of my memories growing up are playing outside with my friends, in the neighbor's sandbox, on their trampoline or tree house. I remember during the summer, my best friend and I used to follow the canal down the street, all the way to Hyde Park, that's at least 10 miles round trip! We spent all day every day building elaborate tree houses in the summer or snow caves in the winter. It was almost impossible for our parents to get us to come home long enough for dinner, let alone back in at a decent hour after night games.

It's hard to say parents should be letting their kids run around the neighborhood unsupervised with all the sexual predators and kidnappers we hear about on the news. However, what's wrong with chatting up your neighbor while your kids play together? It's good to get to know your neighbors. Wouldn't you like to know that when you're not home your neighbor cares enough to keep an eye on your house and notify you if they see anything suspicious?

Growing up you knew everyone on your street, your parents knew everyone whether they were friends or not. They watched out for you and you watched out for them. What happened to the good ol' days?

When we moved into our new house I was nervous that we'd have bad neighbors. So far it seems they're all pretty nice. They wave or say hello when I drive by. Our neighbor across from us is really kool. He's young like us and digs the Grateful Dead so we knew immediately we'd get along.

I am thankful however for the privacy we've had on our street. When we built our first house in Utah, within 24 hours after moving in, the Relief Society President came over for a visit. After telling her we are not members and are not interested, we continued to receive invitations to church functions.

Funny story goes along with that meeting...during conversation with the RSP, she told us we'd get along well with the neighbor on the corner because they smoke and drink too! Were we smoking or drinking while talking to her? No. Did we have a pack of cigarettes in our hand? No. Did we offer her a cigarette or drink? No. So, if you're not a member then you automatically smoke and drink? YA...that's the mentality of the (active) Mormons in that town. To be fair, she probably saw us out smoking many times before she actually dropped by, however did we ever stand outside with a beer or bottle of Crown? No. Just because we smoke doesn't mean we drink...I haven't had a drink in over 4 years!

The story gets better though....when she introduced herself to our neighbors next door, she told them they would get along great with us because we smoke and drink just like them! SERIOUSLY! AND...it gets even better. My madre works at a popular warehouse store and she told me about this lady who was at her register and mentioned something about Nibley Garden Estates (the name of our neighborhood) so my mom (being the social butterfly that she is) told her that her daughter and son inlaw just moved in that neighborhood. The RSP told her she knew everyone that lived there, what were our names. My mom told her she wouldn't know us, we had literally just moved in and hadn't met any neighbors yet. The RSP told her, she had met EVERYONE. So my mom told her our names and she was all "YA I met them". Then she asked her if we were "members"(only in Utah). My mom told her I WAS (bullshit) and she wasn't sure about Jory. Then the RSP told my Mother that we would get along really well with neighbors on the corner! OF COURSE she didn't tell her why...just that we would get along! LOL! What a bitch!

Anyway the only Mormons we have seen here tried to drop by our house to make sure I was serious when I mailed my RESIGN FROM YOUR CRAZY ASS CHURCH letter. We were out smoking when they drove up, I was in my comfy clothes, translation: shorts, tank top no bra. I don't normally let people see me with no bra...the girls could poke an eye out! So I tossed my smoke and ran inside to get a jacket. My psychic ability told me it was the missionaries coming to talk me out of my resignation. By the time I got back to the front door Jory was coming in, he confirmed it was the missionaries and he told them we weren't interested and NEVER is a good time for them to come back. LOL! I love him.

I've gone on too long...point is, Don't let the Fear Keep you Down!