Sunday, July 19, 2009

A Nurturing Neighborhood

A few weeks ago, our 14-year old son came up to me and said-- "Hey dad, I'm going to dance practice."
I almost fell off my chair. "Did you say Dance practice?" The word dance and Simar (our son's name) sound strange in the same sentence.
"Yeah, dad. Dance practice," he said.
"So what kind of dance is it?" I asked hesitantly.
"It's a mixture of Hip-Hop, Bhangra and Bollywood. It's for the graduation party."
My jaw literally hit the floor! "Who convinced you to do all this?" I asked.
"Anything for a friend, dad. Anything... even dance!"

Such is the story of our neighborhood, and particularly its children. Sometimes, it literally feels as if we all have a bunch of kids instead of the two or three of our own! They roll in and out of the neighborhood homes as an entourage. They play together, eat together, argue & fight as kids will, and most importantly, defend each other. In other words, they have each others back. For the last 3 weeks, they practiced sincerely, sometimes 2-3 hours a day. Our daughter made special trips from UVA, whenever she could to practice and help. And the results were evident on the night of the party. The kids were just fabulous in their dance routines, colorful and coordinated. They were seriously involved in their performance, not because they wanted accolades for themselves. They just wanted their friend's graduation party to be memorable.

Friendships like these are generally life-long associations. These kids will soon be carving their own paths as they forge ahead into a promising future. I'm sure they'll always be close to each other, no matter where they are physically, because they'll have poignant memories of growing up together in a nurturing neighborhood. Friendships and associations, formed in childhood and early youth are food for the soul, for an eternity. The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.

The first rule of life is to cherish your family and your friends as if your life depended on it...... you know why?
Because it does.

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