My neighbors

One thing I realized yesterday when I got back from a Christmas Eve event, was how lucky I am to live in the neighborhood I do.

I have so many great connections from the people that live next door, and not everyone else can benefit from that.

I am so lucky to live where I do. Gene Wilder is often seen at the Grocery Store. Bobby Valentine lives in my zip code. A reporter on a local news station lives across the street from me. My eye doctor also lives across the street. (Thankfully I have no vision problems) The person who got me my first GOOD summer job at RBS was a neighbor.

The area we live in was once owned by the famous sculptor Gutzon Borglum. If you aren't familiar with his work, now you are...

http://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm

Mount Rushmore.

A person who lives in one of his properties now is Mort Walker, a famous cartoonist who created Beetle Bailey

I'm not trying to gloat. It's sad to me. I know that the chances are that I will never be able to be in a place with more connections than the one I live in now.

As I am thinking about my future, where I want to live and what I want to do, I realize that I have it really lucky and that it will be hard for me to give my kids (if I have any) a better life than I did.

I have always liked the idea of living out in the country on a good piece of land, far away from traffic. The downside of not living in the city is that you are exposed to less in the way of people, ideas and technology. As an example I spent so much time away from civilization that I didn't know what a Red Box (movie rentals) was until a couple of months ago.

Living where I do with the connections I have also helps me realize how hard it is for people to get out of poverty. People in poverty live by those in poverty. They don't have a doctor that's a neighbor that will check them up for free, or have someone who can get their foot in the door at a company.