I have an actual village! It's great. I see my mom (nine houses down) every day and my best friend and her kids (a block and a half) at least four to five days a week. My brother and his wife are an easily walkable three blocks away. We're having more and more friends move to within a three block radius, all about a block from the church and the Catholic Bible study center, where there are events almost every day and playdates for kids in the summer. We do meal trains for new moms and friends with medical emergencies. We help friends move in or work on their houses. We see friends walking with a stroller every day. And we get to know some other people (checkout clerks at the grocery store, neighbors, dog walkers, etc) just from walking in this neighborhood all the time.
This past week there was a party almost every day (our Friday dinner, a housewarming, regular weekly Sunday brunch, a playdate, a surprise baby shower, a pool party...!) I told my friends we were winning at seeing each Bingo!
If any of us witnessed a murder or lost fingers, we'd be at each other's houses in a moment. I aspire to be the Mrs. Rachel Lynne of our neighborhood. We've hosted open invite dinners regularly for eight years and know lots of people and to whom it might be useful to introduce them. I am living my 1910 connection making society lady busybody dreams... All for the Lord, of course! 😅
You were actually the first person who came to my mind when I added that parenthetical! I think this is so amazing, and 100% this is what the world (and parents) need. Rachel Lynne is a superstar, that’s what 😂 I know it must have taken a lot of work to build up your community and the results sound just amazing!
My then six year old daughter invited a checkout clerk at the grocery store to our Friday dinners (I followed up and got his phone number a different day: "Are you the one my daughter invited to dinner?" 😅) and he came to dinner and became our friend. He was already Catholic and now he switched to going to the same Mass we go to and his girlfriend joined our Biblical Hebrew class. I wouldn't believe my life was real if I didn't live it!
Kelly and Kate D., I too live in such a 'village' in the midst of a busy city. For those of us who follow Jewish law, we must live within walking distance of a synagogue as we do not drive on Shabbat (the Saturday Sabbath) or on holidays. This forces us to cluster together. We participate in each other's joys and sorrows. Just as you say, we have meal trains when someone is ill or has a new baby, and we have volunteer services for all sorts of things ranging from first-aid responders to borrowing baby equipment. The physical proximity means there are kids playing on the streets together and lots of occasions to meet our neighbors.
My husband and I started an intentional conversation with friends (many of whom lived locally at the time near a parish - but we all got priced out of that area) and have continued it for years. We discussed what was really important and where in the country we could find that. We visited several areas and talked with families who were already there. Some people decided on other areas than the one we did, but I think a lot of people are becoming more intentional just from the conversation, which is awesome.
Some of us are trying to buy within walking distance of each other; some within driving distance- but the UK is so wildly unlike the US in terms of the housing market… it’s really really tough. (I know the US market is bonkers in some areas but in general I think things like having not insane building codes and land availability just make it easier there.)
Yes, one thing I love about the UK is the way old neighborhoods are preserved (much better than the US), but it makes sense that there are unexpected trade-offs! It must be more difficult to build new housing.
It's basically impossible to build new housing unless you are incredibly wealthy or a giant company. The downsides to old neighbourhoods include the fact that if people like living in them, there is very low turn-over for newcomers, and that the housing is pretty much all exactly the same floorplan, so if you're a growing family or don't want a two-up, two-down, you're kind of stuck. God can always make a way, though!
I have an actual village! It's great. I see my mom (nine houses down) every day and my best friend and her kids (a block and a half) at least four to five days a week. My brother and his wife are an easily walkable three blocks away. We're having more and more friends move to within a three block radius, all about a block from the church and the Catholic Bible study center, where there are events almost every day and playdates for kids in the summer. We do meal trains for new moms and friends with medical emergencies. We help friends move in or work on their houses. We see friends walking with a stroller every day. And we get to know some other people (checkout clerks at the grocery store, neighbors, dog walkers, etc) just from walking in this neighborhood all the time.
This past week there was a party almost every day (our Friday dinner, a housewarming, regular weekly Sunday brunch, a playdate, a surprise baby shower, a pool party...!) I told my friends we were winning at seeing each Bingo!
If any of us witnessed a murder or lost fingers, we'd be at each other's houses in a moment. I aspire to be the Mrs. Rachel Lynne of our neighborhood. We've hosted open invite dinners regularly for eight years and know lots of people and to whom it might be useful to introduce them. I am living my 1910 connection making society lady busybody dreams... All for the Lord, of course! 😅
Our friend wrote this post about our neighborhood: https://open.substack.com/pub/katedominguez/p/guest-post-griffin-jones-on-intentional?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2p30h7
You were actually the first person who came to my mind when I added that parenthetical! I think this is so amazing, and 100% this is what the world (and parents) need. Rachel Lynne is a superstar, that’s what 😂 I know it must have taken a lot of work to build up your community and the results sound just amazing!
My then six year old daughter invited a checkout clerk at the grocery store to our Friday dinners (I followed up and got his phone number a different day: "Are you the one my daughter invited to dinner?" 😅) and he came to dinner and became our friend. He was already Catholic and now he switched to going to the same Mass we go to and his girlfriend joined our Biblical Hebrew class. I wouldn't believe my life was real if I didn't live it!
Kelly and Kate D., I too live in such a 'village' in the midst of a busy city. For those of us who follow Jewish law, we must live within walking distance of a synagogue as we do not drive on Shabbat (the Saturday Sabbath) or on holidays. This forces us to cluster together. We participate in each other's joys and sorrows. Just as you say, we have meal trains when someone is ill or has a new baby, and we have volunteer services for all sorts of things ranging from first-aid responders to borrowing baby equipment. The physical proximity means there are kids playing on the streets together and lots of occasions to meet our neighbors.
Wow how wonderful! I am so glad to hear it!
Loved this piece! We have been working on trying to make a geographical village/ neighbourhood happen… it’s a long road!
That’s so wonderful, I’m glad to hear it! I’d love to read more about how you’re going about it, I know you do a lot of mentorship already!
My husband and I started an intentional conversation with friends (many of whom lived locally at the time near a parish - but we all got priced out of that area) and have continued it for years. We discussed what was really important and where in the country we could find that. We visited several areas and talked with families who were already there. Some people decided on other areas than the one we did, but I think a lot of people are becoming more intentional just from the conversation, which is awesome.
Some of us are trying to buy within walking distance of each other; some within driving distance- but the UK is so wildly unlike the US in terms of the housing market… it’s really really tough. (I know the US market is bonkers in some areas but in general I think things like having not insane building codes and land availability just make it easier there.)
Yes, one thing I love about the UK is the way old neighborhoods are preserved (much better than the US), but it makes sense that there are unexpected trade-offs! It must be more difficult to build new housing.
It's basically impossible to build new housing unless you are incredibly wealthy or a giant company. The downsides to old neighbourhoods include the fact that if people like living in them, there is very low turn-over for newcomers, and that the housing is pretty much all exactly the same floorplan, so if you're a growing family or don't want a two-up, two-down, you're kind of stuck. God can always make a way, though!