Neighborhood Caste System

It sounds a bit dramatic, right? When we made the move from the city to the ‘burbs, we knew things would change A LOT. I thought we’d probably be on the younger side, but figured that was OK. We would eventually make some friends, meet some neighbors. That was before I learned about the caste system in our neighborhood.

Let’s back up. Has anyone seen Mean Girls? (OK, if you haven’t, really? Really? Go rent it.) There’s a part in the movie when Janis & Damien explain to new student Kady the cafeteria seating chart and how that explains how cool each group is. This is important to know because I’m pretty sure Greg and I are sitting somewhere close by the Band Nerds, the Asian Nerds and the Cool Asians. The moms are the mean girls.

Let me put this another way so my Mom will understand. Living in the suburbs without kids is like going to Bed Bath and Beyond without a 20% off coupon. It just feels wrong…

I’ve even gone on jogs around the neighborhood hoping to see neighbors just to wave at. It’s a homeowner code. You totally get to wave at everyone. But the reception has not been as warm as I hoped for. There’s an elementary school and two really cute little parks in our neighborhood and when I run by it and see the moms there with their little ones and wave, I either get blank stares and every once in a while a look like I might straight babynap their child right off the swing set. Whoa, lady.

Even when Greg and I are driving in the neighborhood, I would say our neighbor wave return is only about 60%. So, even if the neighborhood is ready for more kids, the Bensons, as it turns out, are not. Not quite yet anyway. So for now, bottom of the food chain.

In other news, I’m pretty excited that I’m already 2/3 of the way to my goal of 9 followers. Although, let’s face it, one of those followers is… uh.. me.

Happy Tuesday everyone!