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Welcome to my blog. Thanks for coming! One day I hope my little piece of internet real estate will be home to lots of family photos, pictures of my scrapbook and card art, with some random thoughts and memories posted on a somewhat regular basis. Mostly my world is very predictable, but occasionally some excitement will find me, so visit often. Who knows what useful (or useless) information you may find here.

cathyb

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Boyz In The Hood

No time to write in the old blog any more, so I'm cheating again, and sharing the article from last week's paper.  


I’ve never lived more than 25-30 miles from the place of my birth, the good old (old) Winder Hospital out on East Broad.  Dr. Etheridge brought me into this world on a crisp fall day many, many years ago.  Barrow County has been home for the greater part of my life, with a few years spent in Oconee, with a couple of short stents in other nearby towns. But I always found my way back to Statham. There really is no place like home!

We lived in Winder while Whitney was in middle and high school.  I was working from home most of those years, and the flexibility of my job made it possible to be an involved Band Mom, and make sure that she was where she needed to be.  It was a quiet little neighborhood, and I had dear friends across the street from me.  We watched out for each other, and traded chores whenever needed.  They later moved away, which broke my heart. There was nobody else in the neighborhood that I befriended, and it was pretty lonely after that.

Shortly after Whitney left for college, I decided to move back to Statham.  My parents are here, my BFF is here, my church is here, and my crafting friends are here.  I was very fortunate that my house in Winder sold quickly, and I was able to purchase a home in Statham.  I bought the house from my good friends, the Johnsons, who had raised their kids here in The Hood. 

When I moved in, I inherited the most awesome neighbors!!  I still missed my friends from Winder, but was so happy to have been accepted into the family of neighbors here in The Hood.  Most of the families on my street have lived here for years and years, and they know each other well.  Some of them ride around in golf carts, keeping a close eye on anything that might seem to be amiss.  On any given evening, it’s not unusual to see a convoy of golf carts going by, or see a group of them stopped in the driveway of another neighbor for a visit.  I don’t get out and socialize with them as often as I would like, but it is very comforting to know that there are at least six or seven Boyz In The Hood that I can call on if I need a guy to help me do things.  My BFF is at the end of the street, and her husband is like my brother.  One July 4th morning I woke him up before daylight screaming for him to come down here, something exploded in my house and I thought it was on fire.  He was here in a flash – and after finally convincing me the house was not on fire, and not to call 911, his diagnosis was that a squirrel had chewed through one of  the power lines coming to my house. This was later confirmed by the Georgia Power guy, who worked for hours in a pouring rain to get it fixed. 

My dear neighbors Arti and Tammy have been so good about mowing my lawn.  I can never thank them enough.  One summer I had a bad foot and they kept it cut for me the whole season. They are awesome!  One time we needed to move a wooden playscape down the street.  All the guys gathered in my back yard and after much planning and conspiring, they loaded it onto David’s flatbed truck, and safely transported it three doors down to the Melton home.  The guys followed on their golf carts, and helped to unload it and shore it up for safe playing.


I’m always bragging about my great neighbors on Facebook. I’m so very thankful for my life here.  It’s a wonderful place to be, and I am so blessed to be surrounded by The Boyz (and girlz) In The Hood!!