I wake up with a song in my head most mornings. Today it was “On the Street Where You Live” from the musical My Fair Lady.
On a trip back home in May to the Chicago area, my husband and I were treated to a great impromptu brunch on the street where we lived for 33 years in Evanston, Illinois. We all fell back into our comfortable
neighborly rhythms on the street where we raised our kids, celebrated births and deaths, and ate many wonderful potluck meals. We moved to Portland in July 2012, but many of our neighbors have remained in their homes.
The question that comes up often when we go back and visit is “So when are you moving back to Evanston?’”
Our response is “Well, probably never.”
We loved living there, and we love living here in the Sunnyside neighborhood. I know that we may not be able to re-create that same history of neighborhood warmth here, but we chose to live in a neighborhood. That’s the major reason I trained as a Neighborhood Emergency Team member, a great excuse to get to know my neighbors through the lens of emergency prep.*
It’s been a lot harder to do this outreach during COVID, so that’s why I submit a monthly article to the SNA newsletter and why I continue to encourage Sunnysiders to “be prepared, not scared.”
So, you might ask, “What are you doing to continue to be prepared?”
*Recently, my husband drained some of the water from our water storage barrel outside and refilled it with fresh water. I have tasked myself with going through our water storage bottles and seeing which ones need to be replaced and which are still viable. The recommendation is for 1 gallon per person per day for 14 days. Stay tuned for an update about my water storage journey.
Questions? Need materials to learn more about e-prep? Feel free to reach out.
Stay hydrated and get to know your neighbors. Yep, that’s the way to go and to be in this lovely Sunnyside neighborhood.
