A Great Way to Meet Neighbors

For my readers that don't know, our family of five moved from the city of Cincinnati, OH to the bustling city of White Plains, NY. It's been a move with plenty of ups and downs, with the biggest down being our lack of friends and family.

We moved in February, if that doesn't say enough about not getting to meet neighbors. It was snowing endlessly while our moving van was being unloaded. Kids and adults were already bored of the snow, so going outside sledding in neighborhood we still weren't able to meet anyone- no one was to be seen in this complex of 165 houses. We have a community playground, and the winter time crowd there was limited to just our family. Once the pool opens for the summer, I'm certain to be sharing lunch with fellow mom and kid combo's, but summer seems just too far away in New York.

As the weather in New York started to warm, snow was melting all around us, but the neighbors weren't rushing over with welcoming cakes and pies. We were lucky if people on our tiny court would lift their hands to wave a simple, "hey, welcome to the street" or a non-committal, "hello". So gloom started to settle in our normally chipper household.

Looking forward to summer, I thought I better get onto the task of finding a kennel for our lone dog. I placed a call to the first one Google found in the 10603 area code. I made the reservation, and due to my lack of friends and social connections in the area, I started chatting to the woman on the other end of the line. I mentioned that we would be getting a dog soon since we had to put one down over the last few months. Well, one thing certainly lead to another, and I committed to fostering three of the cutest puppies in the White Plains area.

The best thing about fostering puppies is that we have really gotten to know the neighbors as we head out with these cute dogs on leashes. Currently our housing situation doesn't come with a fence, so we have found our neighbors lending their fences, and their love to these sweet little dogs. People that I would wave to while driving down the street, are suddenly waving as if we are long lost best friends. These puppies have been such a blessing, but I must admit, I'm looking forward to them going to new homes this weekend. Borrowing puppies is the way to go, I seemed to have forgotten how much work goes into raising a dog from Puppy to adult. I'll take the lazy adult dog years any day!



These dogs are available at the Dog Day Festival this weekend in downtown White Plains! Check them out- they are lab/boxer and should get to weigh about 40-50 pounds.