Weekend grateful - community

I love my little community.
I'm grateful for what the local community in our middle of the road Melbourne suburb bring to my daily life and the community experience of the Batsman and the Bowler.

Would you like to meet them?

There is the glorious rainbow of characters who volunteer in the op shop. They can always be relied upon for a warm greeting, a conversation about preserving fruit (I buy lots of jars in there) and an eclectic exchange about the day's best op shop pickings.

The polished and professional boys who work at the post office...they didn't even flinch the other day when I told them I had to send a sample of the Batsman's wee to Paris for an autism study on environmental toxins. We just filled out a customs declaration and away went the wee to France courtesy Australia Post.

The women who work in deli are just lovely. They gently encourage the Batsman to finish his sandwich and milk shake with the promise of a treat to follow. They ply our rowdy Bowler with babycino and Italian vanilla shortbread and minute by minute he is learning all of their names and falling a little in love with their kindness.

In deli number 2, the proprietor chats with me about all things olives, salami and preserved lemons with a side order of autism. He always asks how things are going. He has personal experience of autism.

The florist is warm and boisterous, a salt of the earth type who keeps a parrot in a huge cage out the front of the shop for the local kids to speak to on their way past.

And there's the gorgeous Italian family who run the fruit and vegetable shop who have become like family to us during the last 5 years. I see them almost every day and they never fail to greet me and the kids warmly. The Batsman is so confident with his "fruit and veg" family that he takes off solo to the back of the shop to find "the boys" who deliver tickles and high fives and grapes in equal and generous measure. About once a week I am so very touched when someone from the family asks me in depth about the Batsman's progress in his therapy program. And they always ask, "and what about you, are you ok? Are you looking after yourself?"

I could go on and on about our little community shopping street. I feel so very fortunate that the boys can grow up feeling connected with those around them, that they are a part of something, that there are people who care for them and love to see them in their day to day travels.
I'm grateful little community, so very grateful.

And thanks too Maxabella

Image via We Heart It