Greetings, everyone! I hope you’ve been enjoying a safe and fun-filled 4th of July weekend. I know I have. I had the pleasure of spending the holiday with several of my neighbors, some of whom I’ve known for over two decades. Some of whom I’ve just met in the past year. Delightful folks, despite their notable predilection for serving me far too many holiday libations despite what I’m pretty sure were numerous protests from me to please stop giving me those delicious cocktails that I just asked for.
So yeah, full disclosure: I’m a little rough around the edges today. Worth it, though, to
celebrate and spend time with friends old and new.
Speaking of newcomers to the neighborhood, it’s been refreshing to see so many travelers from around the globe coming to Atlanta and to Candler Park to cheer on their home country’s team in the World Cup. Whether you’re a soccer fan or not, I hope you can still appreciate the level of enthusiasm and joy these fans display. It’s a wonderful counterpoint to the steady stream of negative news that we (or at least I) often focus on these days.
To my point, I had a great interaction with some of those World Cup visitors last week. I was chatting with one of my neighbors, and we heard two gentlemen behind us laughing. We turned and saw they were wearing England’s colors. They had been walking from the Brewhouse Café down Josephine St. and had paused to take a picture of the England flag that another of my neighbors was proudly flying on their house the day after England defeated DR Congo in a great match. They asked us if a Brit lived at the house, and I said no, that they were just England fans. They loved that. I asked the guys if they were visiting from England, and they said they were. We talked a little about that game and a few others, about what they were doing while in Atlanta, and about how much fun they’d had at the stadium and at the Brewhouse. “Good luck,
and go England!” I said as they headed off. “Go USA!” they responded in return.
It was a small thing, but it made my day.
Having been a tourist many times in other countries, wandering through neighborhoods and snapping photos where the residents there see nothing overtly special, it was great to see tourists doing the same in our neighborhood. We sometimes get used to the things we see day-to-day in our community. When someone points out a small thing in our community that makes them smile, especially one we take for granted, it can remind us of how special our little corner of the world is.