You like Nachos?

My mummy and black kitty at the neighborhood Halloween block party.

Kincaid attends a public elementary school that is very diverse. We love our neighborhood for that exact reason. Our county as a whole is not diverse - most people are white, upper-middle class, conservative, Christians. I sometimes worried about how our kids would adapt to the real world of diversity - cultural, racial, economic - without being exposed in their young lives to much difference. Would they be compassionate to those with less or of different color? Would they be open-minded to different viewpoints and still celebrate their own beliefs and opinions?

Now, I don't worry. We moved to this neighborhood for the old houses we could afford. You know, the houses have character and the neighbors are...characters. They all look different - the houses, and the neighbors. The houses built between the early 1900's and 2005, most from 1930 - 1970. And the neighbors also, built..er, born, between 1900 and ... well, you get the idea.

The neighborhood is itself a dichotomy, close to a great upscale downtown and also only two blocks from public housing. It isn't a traditional "neighborhood" with cul-de-sacs and streets upon streets of houses with kids the same age. We have to make an effort to meet the neighbors and play. Our street is a busy cut-through where cars drive 60 in the 30 mph zone. It makes me nervous, so I just fuss at the dog about getting too close to the street, don't let Scarlett out front without me, pray, and call the police to please come out and monitor the traffic.

But the traffic is the only thing I don't love about our "neighborhood". Our neighbors are so wonderful - all ages and stages of life. The kind of neighbors you'll know forever - not intimately, but protectively. Ours is a neighborhood where each house has it's own story, so very different from the one next door. We have to try harder here to be connected to our neighbors, but it is so worth it.

So, back to the school. About 65% of the children at Kincaid's school are on "reduced-cost lunch" and Kincaid is actually a minority in his class - only one of nine white children out of twenty. He came home after his first day at school and said, "Hey Mom, I had my first conversation with an 'Ispanic' boy today!"

He was so excited. So I asked him what they talked about...he said,

"Oh, he said to me, 'You like nachos?' and I said, 'Yeah. You like Turkey-Cheese?'"

And that was it. A simple conversation and a bright smile for a new friend made. He was so proud of himself. I was so proud of him. We still need to work on the exchanging names part...

We thought we were brought to this place to serve our neighborhood and help in whatever ways we could, but really, we are the ones blessed by the people that surround us. Older, younger, wealthier, poorer and just middle of the road...some like us and many very different...what a wonderful fabric for a neighborhood. What a beautiful canvas on which to paint your earliest childhood memories.

Many families try to avoid our neighborhood and school because of the diversity. I just pinch myself and ask, "Aren't we lucky?"