Singletree

If I could pick one family "tradition" to instate it would be after dinner walks. However, I happened to marry a guy who doesn't really get the point unless there's a destination or, more accurately, a reward. Namely a sweet, tasty treat of a reward somewhere in the outing. What I realized tonight, however, is that I also happened to marry a guy who isn't around most evenings.

I didn't grow up with sidewalks, which perhaps- work with me here- explains my delight in them. I live now in the aptly-named neighborhood of "Singletree." With it's perfectly cut sidewalks the color of warm sand meeting perfectly square suburban lawns and perfectly perpendicular streets, it screams "after dinner walk!" I must say that before living in the 'burbs, I doubted them, ironically for the "perfection" that I just noted. But there is life here. And non-perfection. I enjoy most how some people's lawns look look Botanical gardens while other people's look like the burnt-out prairies that boarder our edge-of-urban-sprawl neighborhood. I like to believe that brown-grass homes are making a bold enivronmental statement about our consumption of water. In all likelihood, these are simply foreclosures, but I've decided recently that sometimes thinking well of people, and displaying other virtues of grace and compassion, is more important that the truth. (that last statement might be for a whole different post).

I look forward to tomorrow evening when I might just share another Colorado sunset with my neighbors, even if in a very peripheral way. Maybe I'll hear more children playing tag at the park and summoning one another with "hey kid!" Or I might see a family unit eight members strong out for their own walk with fully-leased Chihuahuas running freely. Maybe another 3 year old will ask me to pull her on her tricycle with the bungie cord she rigged up. and for one more night I'll be content by myself, living in a suburb, in Colorado.