The joy of community

After being raised in a tiny 2-stoplight town in Ohio (where I knew almost everyone), I spent 37 years of my life in a major metropolitan area--in and around Washington, D.C. For 32 of those years, I lived in a small, older family-owned apartment complex in Alexandria, Virginia. In 32 years, I never had a neighbor who invited me into their home, nor did I invite any of them into mine. In my last number of years there, there were two older ladies--one next door and one across the street--who were pretty much the only people who spoke to me. I only knew my next door neighbor's name because I regularly got her mail.

When I would go out walking in my complex, I would smile and say hello or good morning to everyone I passed. Many people didn't even acknowledge me much less return my greeting or smile at me. This angered me. I thought--what is so hard about just smiling or saying hello? Why would you NOT? I never understood it and, while I enjoyed the area, it made me sad not to feel a sense of community in a place where I had spent more than 3 decades of my life.

Last year, I retired and moved to a small beach town on the Eastern Shore. My best friends had lived there for 20 years and I had visited regularly over the years. I called it my home away from home. During the years when my job and its attendant stress were taking a toll on me, this town and my friends' home was my escape and asylum from the madness.

I now live in a small condo community. Thus far (we are a new community), it is an all-adult community and predominately over 50, with perhaps 35% full-timers and 65% weekenders. For the first 6 months or so I lived here, I was the only full-timer in my building and only 1 of 3 or so full-timers in the entire community. There were moments when I thought "Here we go again." and wondered if I would ever feel the sense of community that I had hoped for; but, as more units sold, I got more neighbors--mostly weekenders but some more full-timers too.

Not quite 1 1/2 years after moving here, I finally feel that sense of community that I had craved. I love my neighbors! They are such wonderful people. I adopted a puppy last fall and the community has turned into a major "dog town." I have met most of the community before they even moved in, thanks to walking my VERY cute dog and living near the sales office. :)

I'm involved, via volunteering, with animal welfare, childhood literacy, human welfare and the over 50 population, which further gives me that sense of community--of being OF and doing FOR--and I am the happiest I have been in many, many years. When I walk my dog in this development and the next development over, people wave. Some come over to talk to me and pet Missy. I am meeting new people all the time. My dog has her community of pup pals too. :)

Change was a long time comin' as the song says...but it was well worth the wait.

The joy of a long walk

When I lived in the Washington, DC area, my walks averaged around an hour. My favorite walking route there was through an upscale neighborhood where all the lawns were professionally landscaped and the streets were tree-lined. This route was part flat/part steep hill and part sun/part shade. In the warmer weather, it allowed me to escape the sun/heat and do the most taxing part of my walk in some shade. The steep hill in this neighborhood was also a GREAT cardiovascular workout (and not bad for the legs and fanny either!).

When I moved to Delaware in January 2008, I was physically and emotionally spent from the stress of preparing to move plus the move itself. In the weeks just before and after the move, I was getting plenty of exercise unpacking, going up and down the ladder, hefting boxes, etc., so I didn't worry about working out. I got very ill within a few weeks of moving, which further delayed my return to regular exercise. As so often happens, days turned into weeks and then months that I did not return to my exercise routine other than occasional short walks as the weather allowed. Like many good habits, exercise can be a hard habit to get into but a frustratingly easy one to get out of.

When I retired at the end of May, I pledged to get back to my routine of exercising 5 days per week. My first goal was to work out 3 times a week. I have now made it back to where I am pretty regularly hitting 4 or 5 workouts per week. However, my walks here are still shorter. Part of that is because of the heat and the fact that I am just working my way back into fitness after 5 months of inactivity, and part of it is because where I'm living now is a very different landscape--there are almost no trees/shade where I live and what trees there are are not in a place where I could walk. It's also VERY flat, so it can be boring mentally and unchallenging physically.

I went down to the boardwalk this morning with the goal of a longer walk. It was in the upper 60s and the sun was shining blindingly over the ocean. I walked from one end of the boardwalk to the other (a mile) and back (all but a block) and then cut over to nearby Lake Gerar and walked one loop around the pond and back over to the boardwalk where my car was parked. With stretches, it was just at 1 hour. It felt great to go back to a longer walk and I know that, once we get into the consistently cooler weather, I will go back to doing my long walks again. I will just have to put more energy into finding more interesting/fun walking routes here and getting motivated to drive to them vs. taking the easy way of walking near home.















The boardwalk was teaming with life this morning--joggers, bikers, walkers and tourists. There are LOADS of people taking that last summer vacation before school starts. It is easy to get annoyed at people who don't watch where they're going, want to take over the whole sidewalk/boardwalk, etc. Instead, I remind myself of my blessings...I can walk on the boardwalk anytime...I have my mobility...I can walk for an hour if I want! :)

(Picture taken just north of the end of the boardwalk where I start & end my walks and where I come to cool down after I finish.)