Time Passages

One of my great pleasures is a walk around my neighborhood with Wifey and our dogs. The perimeter road around the 'hood is 1.1 mile, and we never tire of the route, with its manifold botanical wonders.

In the mornings we tend to run into our fellow residents, and chat with them about families, jobs, etc...

Today we met a some of the newer folks, a lovely couple who bought a place 2 houses down. I had met them in December, but Wifey never had. They were out front cleaning away fallen leaves, in anticipation of the husband's mother's arrival from NY.

John is a tall, friendly Irish American, from Long Island, like I am. I joked with him that I moved to Miami to live among exotics, like Latins, and Carribbean types, and now, with his arrival, I'm virtually surrounded by Irish guys! He laughed, getting my saecastic NY humor, and I liked him right away.

His wife is Midwestern, and the two of them met in college on LI. They're marine science/business types, and they moved here to work for the cruise lines. They have 2 little girls.

I told them that my littlest girl was turning 18 tomorrow, and they smiled. D2 was in 3rd grade when we moved to our house, about the age the new neighbors' kids are.

They went on about how much they love the area, and can't believe that the housing slump dropped the price of the house so much that they were able to afford it, and how they wanted to stay forever, and watch their little girls grow and go off to college.

Wifey and I walked away, feeling wistful. Wifey just finished composing a birthday letter to D2, where she recalled reading one of her favorite childhood stories, "The Runaway Bunny." Wifey wrote that wherever D2 went, Wifey would follow, if not physically, then at least with her never ending love for her.

D2 will read the note, love it, and then probably remark about how her mother is forever "stalking her."

And so there it is, as the new neighbors show us...children grow and move away, and younger ones come into a community. D1 is coming back to Miami this Summer, but will probably get an apartment. Wifey and I will get to puppy-sit a lot.

So Wifey and I will continue to walk, and meet the folks, and talk about our Ds. Will we be blessed, someday, to introduce our grandchildren?