Jillian Gets Down With the Line Dancing

Yesterday we went to the annual block party at my old neighborhood. My dad and my sisters are still living there, and it’s only the second time we’ve had the party. We moved a couple times after I was born, but we finally settled in the northwest side of Chicago when I was 4.

It’s a great neighborhood, really safe and close in a Polish/Italian/Irish community. A lot of the kids I went to school with had a cop as a dad. We stuck out a bit, being one of the very few minorities in the neighborhood, but we never had any problems with it. Then again, we were never really “part” of the community, only becoming friends with a few families on the block. Most were polite but kept their distance.

Over the years, we became one of the oldest families on the block, as new families came in and older ones left. Several years ago “that family” moved it, “that family” being the family that makes your whole block can hate together as a community. Well, I won’t be hard on the family, I’ll just blame the father. He’d sit on his front steps and just be a jerk to about anyone who’d come by. If people parked in front of his house, he’d yell at them, even though his car was already parked. He’d check the stickers on all the cars, and if someone’s stickers were expired, he’d call the cops. My dad had some problems with our old station wagon, and left it parked in front of our house for a week, and one day the car got a sticker on it stating it was ‘abandoned’ and that it would be towed. Hmm, I wonder who called that one in?

Anyway, he finally moved away….and our neighborhood rejoiced. So much that they decided to have a block party, a tradition that was had years before we had even moved in. Last year they had the first one, and this year was the second one.

It was great to come “home” and see the whole neighborhood together, hanging out, socializing, getting to know one another. They had community meetings to plan it and different activities. Each family was assigned an activity - my father volunteered for bingo (he made his own set a long time ago) and in an attempt to break all Asian stereotypes out there - late night karaoke.

The block party was a success. We had friends and family come in to hang out, eat, and play games. I tried to win at musical chairs, but didn’t win. Bah! My dad and I partnered up for the egg toss, and I cannot tell you how happy it made me to see him laugh and have a good time. It seems like it’s been so long that he’s been this happy when he’s been around us.

I had a great time. We played around in the inflated jumping trampoline thing and got winded after about 10 minutes - having Maui and Redpac try to flip me around didn’t help any. We also had some line dancing, poker playing, and football tossing. The dogs also had a great time, running around, making new friends - Ewok had only a short time out to socialize since he doesn’t play well with others.

I loved being home again, seeing how much the neighborhood has changed in the short time I’ve been gone - kids growing up, trees getting taller, new familes, old families. I know that I have my own house right now, but in my heart, this will always be “home”.

Tags: Daily //