Suburbia.

This morning I realized I live in suburbia. And not just a minimal version of it. The version of it that you see made up on movies. That is where I live...the "made up" version, except it isn't made up. My morning went as such...

The builders started construction on the home right behind ours. This means Zack constantly hears, "big trucks." Fabulous. This morning there really was some serious action going, so we decided to take a walk & check it out. From there we continued down the tree-lined streets passing parks & neighbors out walking their dogs. We walked to our neighborhood shopping center that is landscaped with blooming flowers, shade trees, outdoor tables & brick pavers to pick up a donut for Zack (and a DC for me!) and then we were on our way home.

On our return trip we ran into a new neighbor out walking her dog. This conversation took 20 minutes as Zack rolled around on the lawn with the dog. I'm glad so many neighbors have dogs...so that I don't have to!

We wrapped that up & continued on our way when we ran into a neighbor's mother-in-law, who happens to be in my parent's ward. She was babysitting grandkids & out for a walk...we stepped into pace with each other & enjoyed some good conversation on our walk. Our walk took us past a park where another friend was out with her 2 kids, so of course Zack had to get down & play a bit & the 3 adults continued with our chat...me & my friend coordinating park day tomorrow & if she could watch Zack while I was at the doctor...you know, all the good stuff.

After an hour of that we finally started to make our way home when a passerby stopped to ask me if I knew who the owner was of the dog he had in the back seat of his nice car. hmm, no idea, sorry. He parked across the street from my house to knock on some doors -- he had almost hit the dog on the neighboring busy road & wanted to make sure the dog found its home. I thought this very kind, but I was still of no help. He left some messages for the owner at the number on the dog's tag. Finally the owner called him back -- turns out the owner lives a couple houses down & across the street. The dog was put into its owner's backyard...safe & sound...problem solved.

What started out as a 20 minute walk turned into 2 hours of fun...and did I mention the birds were chirping, the sun shining & the flowers in bloom?

I love suburbia.