The Academy of Chaos

We just wrapped up an evening with most of our neighborhood friends. It's an annual thing where the kids light sparklers, the dads light fireworks, and the moms prepare footage for YouTube.

I wish I could say this was an anomaly; that the other 364 days of the year we mind our own business and go about our lives without intersecting. Because that would make moving away SO much easier. July 10th, all of our neighbors are throwing us a going away party. The upside is that it will bring the closure I so desperately need in every aspect of my world. But maybe, if we loaded the moving van and caught a typical neighborly wave or two as we pulled away from our home of 10 years it wouldn't feel like heartbreak.

But, we've had children alongside each other. We've watched the kids all grow up together. We've cried and laughed and celebrated together. In two days, we will decorate bikes and wagons and scooters, and then we will parade through the neighborhood ending at the park shelter for more fun.

All of this just one last time. The people who move into our house are moving into a family. The front yards are like one big amusement park. The backyards come in triplicate with trampolines and pools and tree swings. In the winter, you would never know who lived where based on where they shoveled. We watch each other's kids and homes. We've all lost dogs and didn't have to pretend it didn't hurt so bad. That kind of support is priceless.

In 13 days, I will leave this house and this neighborhood and this life. I'm headed to a whole new world, but I'm excited for it. It kind of feels like a stepping stone. Leaving here will never be easy, but I get the feeling it'll always feel like home.

So, to my neighbors/friends/family on Academy Drive, thank you. And next year, riding the ottoman down the middle of the street WHILE lighting fireworks may in fact cross 'the line'. But, send me the YouTube link anyway...