#641 Hey y’all.

With chilly afternoon temperatures in the high 60s and low 70s, Ben and I grabbed my camera to take a walk in our new neighborhood. Though it’s only 2 blocks from where we live now, it’ll be so wonderful to see kids playing in their yards,  people jogging, people sitting in their porch swings all around us. The avenues in Laurel are spectacularly beautiful, and it’s something that’s easy to forget when you’ve lived here your whole life. I think moving away for a few years gives you a renewed perspective when you come back home, because I knew it was beautiful in high school, but now I feel absolutely blessed to call this idyllic, historic city my home.

On the north end of 6th Avenue, there were about 6 little girls in their church dresses peddling on tricycles and running circles around a dog that will surely sleep well tonight. Their parents were all there in the front yard, some on the porch, watching the girls and telling stories and lingering in the fall weather.

On our way back toward downtown, we heard a voice call out “Hey Ben and Erin!” We looked toward one of our favorite houses, the terra cotta colored mediterranean, to see who the voice was—our new friend, Cassie, who did the drawing of our building that Ben bought for my birthday. Her teenage brothers were in the front yard playing frisbee, while she and her mom were visiting on the front patio. She invited us in for apple pie, which just further confirms what I’ve been saying.

We love Laurel. It’s friendly, beautiful, home.