Seasons of life in the neighborhood

We bought our house in Post Falls in 1987 and 39 years later it’s still home. Neighbor families have come and gone with only a very few on our street having lived here as long as us. Our daughters grew up and away.

These days we’ve become the age of “hey, you kids, get off my lawn” except we enjoy seeing the neighborhood kids shooting baskets, riding their bikes and skipping to and from the school bus stop.

On the day that Addisyn and her twin brother, Ayden, turned 5 they moved in next door. They started kindergarten that fall. This past Saturday, they celebrated their 11th birthday. In recent months, Miss Addisyn and her girlfriends have begun serenading us regularly. Bert has become their best audience.

They ring the bell then step down to the sidewalk and announce they have a song for him. Often it’s a song they’re practicing with their fifth grade class. Rarely do they make it through an entire song without breaking into giggles. Once for a school program they learned the anthems of the military branches — Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. We were impressed. In jest, I asked if they knew the Coast Guard anthem. They looked at each other with blank stares before answering that they didn’t but promised to learn it.

Sure enough, a few days later the girls were back to sing a verse of Semper Paratus (Always Ready.)

Bert wistfully observed that Addisyn and her giggly girlfriends reminded him of our youngest daughter, Sarah, and her little friends when she was that age. Everything comes full circle in our neighborhood. We will never ever tell kids to “get off the lawn” or discourage them from gifting us with front porch serenades.

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With Gonzaga sadly out of March Madness, I’ll root for the Arizona Wildcats as long as they’re still dancing. While the Wildcats aren’t my home team or alma mater I’ve spent a great deal of time in the Grand Canyon state this past year.

I was in Phoenix in February when on the last day of the month they broke an all-time record for earliest 90 degree day. Then the very next day, March 1, that record was broken with an even higher temperature.

I returned to Phoenix last week, just in time for Mother Nature to say, “here, hold my sunscreen” and pummeled Arizonans with more unseasonably scorching weather — every day over 100 degrees. Last Friday, on the first day of spring it was 106! While I was in the pool or in air conditioning, I cannot imagine what it’s like for people who work outdoors. These desert temperatures are common in the summer months but not for February and March.

I broke a personal record by sporting my earliest bonafide summer tan in March. While half the country is still digging out from snow and ice storms and the other half is dealing with record heat, I’ll gratefully take our four North Idaho seasons any day.

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Happy Main Street Birthdays today to Jamé Davis, Ray Oliver, Colleen Brown, Brenda Buckingham, Alyssa Romero, Mike Carle and Alexander Carle. Tomorrow, Dave Fair, Julie Harris, Julie Readel, Nancy Noordam, JB Romero, Lorna Griffin, Mike Bennettt, Cyndy Griffin, John Hart, Mistie Cooper and WJ Lazerus celebrate. On Friday, Chet Lindquist, Lila Kimm, Theresa Hart, Jamie Green, Katherin Pope, Dan Dunham, Sharon Erickson, Chris Magera, Susan Reynolds, Lynne Wiedemann, Alie Hotchkiss, Ralph Nelson, and Irene Bowman do the birthday dance. On Saturday, Cindy Sweeney, Brandon Clearwaters, James Heilman, Robert Durflnger, Richard Wegner, Chris Camarata and Page Hibbs blow out their candles. Bob Koep, Mary Hawkins and Bo Gerzina celebrate Sunday. Monday birthdays belong to Gloria Weidner, Tabetha Brisbin, Bren Grace and Kathleen Perez. On the last day of March, Priscilla Baker, Rick Vernon, Annika Baltzell, Chris Jones, Joey Nowoj, Patrick Reagan, Shirley Christie, Crystal LaFountain, David Holloway and Chris Clayton turn the page on another year.

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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and a former publisher/editor with the Hagadone Newspaper division. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press. Kerri can be reached on Facebook or via email at [email protected].