Fortuitous and serendipitous. Two of my favorite words. The one, happening by chance; the other, occurring by chance in a happy or beneficial way. Regardless of word choice, I am fortuitously and serendipitously lucky to be living in the home that found me and Mrs. tVM across the street from the Highland Manor Park when we returned to Arizona in the late fall of 2019.
Life abounds in the park. While the heat may pale it during the Sonoran summer, it has been as green as Ireland since we found our way to this house in November 2019.
The liveliness of the park has never been more important than during these days of uncertainty. Arizona schools are closed for at least two weeks, but no one is hiding behind closed doors. Grandparents caring for children of parents who still work ‘onsite’ find their way to the park. Moms and Dads working remotely at home take a break with their kids and toss a football or kick a soccer ball. Life is indeed grand!
The kids in my neighborhood are not ‘glow kids’ glued to video screens. They’ve always been outdoors playing with each other and engaging in real, live face-to-face relationships. They meet in the park to play baseball, football, soccer, and frisbee, not needing adults to supervise and monitor their joyous activity. They remind me of the happy kids I’ve seen in Haiti who know how to have fun without the accouterments of a materialistic society. They remind me of me growing up in the ‘50s and ‘60s without the technological distractions that separates people. Rarely can I look across the street and see the park empty.
The pandemic is not a good thing, but the people in my neighborhood – moms and dads, men and women, grandmas and grandpas, boys and girls and all creatures great and small – will not allow it to throw a negative shadow on their lives. In the process, they raise the quality of my life and my well-being surges amid the challenges we face.
I hope your neighborhood is as wonderful as mine.
Mitakuye Oyasin