I know it's May and not September. But this Memorial Day Weekend was a day of "neighbor" for me.

Saturday morning I teamed up with a neighbor to hold a yard sale. Another neighbor brought us tea. Other neighbors stopped to talk with us. Other not-as-near-neighbors (other people in our complex) stopped from their dog-walking and self-walking and baby-walking to chat and to feel inspired to "someday hold my own yard sale."

Sunday afternoon on Memorial Day was spent with a group of other friends and young families and kids and dogs and food and rain. More building of connections and getting suggestions for great places to find chocolate when I'm in France next month for work.

Sunday night was spent on the back patio of my neighbors "across-the-courtyard" -- Sonja and Tom -- who had an informal cookout and invited anyone to stop by. I joined them and some of the other people I'd seen on Saturday.

We all got the chance to learn more about each other. We heard some great stories about how some of these people who'd been in our complex for decades first found Parkfairfax and why they fell in love with it. We learned more about why our green space so near DC is so worth protecting from encroaching sprawl and development and pending highway construction and more congestion.

We laughed and listened to Gipsy Kings (Sonja's favorite) and talked about all the songbirds around us (catbirds, cardinals, robins, finches, tons of other flying friends). We admired Tom's roses (red, salmon, pink, white). We walked inside the "fairy fort" behind their unit -- a ring of bushes around a circle in which an electrical box sits. We forged new connections that are much more rich than the ones you make when you're all out watering the flowers at the same time or passing each other in the parking lot or sometimes having to knock on doors to ask about noise. 

So when I was driving home today from another meeting, I pulled into Parkfairfax with a heightened sense of "coming home." Of being around people I know a bit better and who know me a bit better. A greater comfort level and a greater sense of connection all around.

So, a day of "neighbor" well spent.