Neighbors just being neighborly

For several years the residents in our one-block-long neighborhood have talked about having a block party get-together, but summers would come and go without it happening.

This past Sunday nearly the entire neighborhood got together for a picnic cookout to say goodbye to a neighbor of 22 years who has moved to Pennsylvania to be closer to her family.

Jo Smith, a great friend and neighor, retired from Marietta Memorial Hospital in April and her nephew and friends packed her up a couple weeks later to move her to a home she had built near her family. It all happened so fast, the neighhorhood hardly had a chance to say goodbye.

Then three of us meet one evening in Wal-Mart and the seed was planted for a neighborhood party on May 31 when Jo returned to Parkersburg to have a moving sale.

Potluck with hamburgers, hot dogs, cake, pie, baked beans, fruit salad, slaw, potato chips, dip and lots of great company was the call of the day.

Our neighborhood is friendly and watches out for each other, but the Sunday afternoon get-together gave us all a chance to just sit and talk, something most neighbors don't do often enough.

In fact, it was so much fun we vowed to do it again in a month or so. I hope we do.

In the meantime, though, we're all going to miss Jo!