Almost Like A Hallmark Movie
by Sarah Fleming
Hello, Chantilly Neighbors,
Isn’t this new publication a delight to find in the mailbox! Chantilly Living! Everything I’ve read thus far — about aspiring entrepreneurs, public servants, goodwill — leaves me feeling inspired and confident in our community’s future. I just wanted to send this greeting and, if I may, enjoy some of the bragging rights regarding living here!
I love it here! When I get those calls from real estate agents — “Will you be looking to sell your house?”— my standard answer is, “Only when every one of my neighbors has moved away.” Whether these neighbors are the “original” or the newest homeowners, they have incredibly beautiful hearts. Although we are in respective worlds, we are more than willing to enter into one another’s, with a shoulder to share a joy or a sorrow.
When I moved here from The Big Apple some 30+ years ago, I was in the middle-aged category. My immediate next-door neighbors were rookie senior citizens, and the other homes were filled with the classic sounds of young parents and children, meows and woofs. It was August, and the heat and humidity shocked me — almost as much as did the 17-Year Reunion of the cicada bugs!
Decades later, my little block’s history includes weddings, retirements, babies, first teeth, first steps, the grand opening of the Chantilly Post Office, kindergarten graduations, first new cars, 3- and 4- and 2-wheel bikes, rescue-kitties and -doggies, braces, Big Screens, GPS, organ transplants, tattoos, deployments, flip-phones, iPhones, K‐Cups, updated kitchens, updated bathrooms, new washer warranties, new dryer warranties, college graduations, ALEXA, first grandchildren, and, ever so sadly, a few deaths of dearly cherished neighbors.
In the surrounding Chantilly neighborhoods, “just about everything” is within walking. distance, or by car, just a few lights away — restaurants, wine stores, coffee houses, Sunday morning nooks for family breakfasts, multiple supermarkets, gyms, florists, hair salons, second-hand books, the Chantilly Regional Library, many places of worship, pet stores, furniture stores, pastry, dessert…ice cream shops…pastry…dessert…ice cream…gotta go! Let me wrap up here!
Continuing into many tomorrows (and described with obvious partiality), our hometown, Chantilly, offers myriad opportunities for friendships, new adventures — a happy pace of life for the different stages of life. … Not that I’m bragging or anything.