End of an Era

It's official.The Olivians have lost a branch. The Conners are leaving and setting up a new homestead in Tampa, FL.

Linda and Chuck and their 3 daughters arrived next door to the Gelfands 10 years ago. Their timing couldn't have been better. My babysitting travesties (plural) were in desperate need of a solution, and Jackie and Allyson Conner were the answer to my prayers.

All of the kids on the block were little then, and the families of West Olive Street bonded together in the best it takes a village tradition. If you came home from work and your kids were missing, it was a sure bet they were at one of the neighbor's, helping themselves to the refrigerator. We naturally gravitated to each other, on the beach and on the weekends. In the early days, we rotated hosting backyard parties, which served as our primary summer social life until the kids got old enough to maraude the neighborhood on their bikes. All the while the Olivians got closer and closer, and became a group fixture on National Blvd. beach, next to the lifeguard mountain. Even as the kids outgrew us, the families remained close, and we adults still occupy the same spot on the sand we have always staked out.

It was at Dermott's big birthday party at the Avenue Cafe this winter that we first learned the Conners were planning to jump ship. I felt the shock waves viscerally. It would truly mark the end of an era. Jackie and Allyson have long since graduated college. Kaley, the youngest Conner daughter, is graduating high school early, by special arrangement, as my older son, Jake, prepares to walk with his senior class. My younger son, Luke,  is 6 feet tall and no longer needs babying (least of all from me).

The Conners are ready for a change.But I'm not so sure I am. I love our little group.I love that our families grew up together and I love the bond that we've shared. I'm a total sentimental fool.

Of course I wish the Conners everything wonderful at their new home. And naturally, we will carry on without them. But I'm secretly imagining the future reunion we might have. Either those of us left behind will descend on them en masse in Tampa, or they will return to the scene of the crime next to the lifeguard mountain where we will surely be sitting, passing the cantelope, sharing gossip and soaking up the rays.

Bon voyage, Conners. We will surely miss you!