Still, I like my neighborhood. I know all of my neighbors but don’t spend a lot of time with all of them. We have one family in our neighborhood who I thought was extra nosy and “trashy” when we first moved in. But I’ve come to actually enjoy their company. They usually throw a big party for the neighborhood on the holidays. And they also know what’s going on with everyone in the neighborhood so they let us know if there have been any break-ins or any thing else that we should be concerned about.

We have lived in our home for nearly 9 years and have never had a block party. Over the 9 years there have only been 3 new families to move in, so it’s safe to say we’ve been neighbors for a long time but short of an occasional wave while we walk our dogs or a nod as we drive past we don’t speak. I’m ashamed to say it but I only know the names of the neighbors directly across the street from us and on both sides of us.

Two years ago, a pastor moved into the house across the street from us and out of the blue he and my husband have developed a friendship. They started talking, soon they started getting together for prayer breakfast, next thing you know they started on an exercise regimen [side note: they've lost over 30 lbs. each]. Last weekend, they decided to have a bbq for all of our neighbors, made flyers and invited all of the neighbors. Tomorrow’s the big day! A lot of the neighbors have phoned and asked if they need to bring anything.

I say all that to say that no I don’t know my neighbors nor have I spent any time with them but I am looking forward to meeting most of them tomorrow.

This is why I think social networks & meetup groups always take off in larger cities first. People are yearning for human interaction. Most social network startups are in big cities for a reason.

I live in NYC, and other than cordial greetings, I don’t have a relationship with my neighbors. This isn’t really the sort of place where you bring your neighbor an apple pie. They’ll probably think you poisoned it…lol.