Walking with Pictures

This past Friday my computer was running really slow and I couldn't take it any longer, so I decided to handle some business at my kids' high school. In our area, before a child can attend school you must show proof of residence if you're a new student or returning student entering 6th or 9th grade. The Affidavit of Residence usually irks my nerves every year because before this year we had to fill this information out every school year, and I always felt like why should returning students fill this out every single year. Every single year the same thing happens, I return a notarized affidavit with 2 proofs of residence along with the paper, and every year, one of my kids' paperwork gets lost, and the threat of being withdrawn every year. In fact, my oldest son was withdrawn during his 7th grade year after I turned in paperwork 4 times (can you say, letter to Superintendent).

Well, this year it seems like the school district has finally figured out the kinks in their system and have gotten more organized. I purposely waited until my son got a few months into his 9th grade year until I got his affidavit ready. For me, this gave the school the chance to get organized and have a set system in place. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed a little, but I have good faith that our paperwork won't get lost. I know people are probably saying, Why don't you make copies? Well, we've done the copy thing and the school has lost 3 of my copies before. But anyway this post isn't about an Affidavit of Residence....it's about my Friday!

Like I said earlier in the post, I decided to handle some business at the local high school. Handling business right now for my family means getting a ride from family, friends and neighbors if need be, because both of our vehicles aren't running, but I'm very fortunate to live in a community where public transportation is very convenient for me. There are two bus stops within 3 minutes of my home and the rail station is a 25 minute walk at most and sidewalks are pretty prevalent, so this makes walking so much bearable to me. Atlanta is notorious for not being pedestrian  friendly city,but I've also found that many people don't want to walk, they're in hurry up mode for everything. 

Our food has to be fast, our communication to one another is quick and short, many of our lifestyles are overflowing with work, projects, after school activities and cub/girl scout meetings.

I'm not against anything that I listed. I'm okay with social media, tweets/texting, being successful, and children being in organized activities. The point of my whole post was about slowing down and getting out and enjoying your community.  My walk was so peaceful and refreshing, I got to see how beautiful my neighborhood is and how walkable the area really is.  

The photos that you see are just a few shots of my community coming back from my son and daughter's high school. After I left the high school, I walked to our downtown district to turn in some library books, and guess what I find next to the library? This right here..........

Yep, the Fall Festival that was supposedly canceled for the year,will go on, and it looks bigger than previous years.

I know the pictures don't show much, but it's everything to me, because it's home!

Getting out and just walking through the quaint neighborhoods, seeing the young children playing in the park, watching the bike riders whiz by, and experiencing the wonderful fall weather is worth slowing down and getting out of the race, just enjoying your own pace.

How often do you get out and just walk or ride in your neighborhood? Do you make it a family outing or do you go at it alone?

Shelly