but the kids die first!
Around four o'clock on Wednesday, our neighbor Robin knocked on the front door.
"Hi! Welcome to the neighborhood," she said. "Since it's a snow day, we're all going to meet up at our house for a pot luck dinner. Any time after four thirty."
We were kind of flabbergasted.
What a fun word. Let's all take a moment to say it out loud:
FLABBERGASTED!
After living in the same condo building in Chicago for seven years - more than 2,500 days - we hadn't invited any of our neighbors over for dinner. Not once.
0 for 2,500.
And vice versa, as we attended "zero-nickelo" dinners in our condo, as my friend Rich would say. Even when snow shut down the entire city.
We were all busy. Making our way in the world today, which takes everything we've got. Stuff like that.
You know: Go, go, go! More, more, more! Up, up, up!
Seven years later, as our demonically possessed condo repeatedly warned everyone to leave or die, we realized we'd accomplished everything we'd set out to when we returned to the Chi back in 2006.
So, once again, we set out to find a place on earth that would facilitate the kind of life we wanted to live.
Like taking some time to play in the snow, even though it's not going to contribute to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Because sometimes you need to make sure you're contributing to Gross National Happiness (GNH).
It might sound cliche, but the wonderful people and "southern" environment of Asheville are helping us slow down and enjoy life. That's part of the reason we came here. Madeline Avenue Snow Day Pot Lucks and such.
And we could do worse than learning from the kids who are having fun sledding late into the night in Malvern Hills Park, because they know even six inches of snow won't last to through the weekend.
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