For years, I have complained about people with strollers. I’ve suffered way too many ankle bruises from stroller fender-benders at the Happiest Place on Earth, not to mention your everyday run-of-the-mill stroller demolition derby at the mall.

I have a confession:  Since Alexander and I have begun taking morning stroller walks, I’ve been using our stroller as a weapon.

Fear not, it’s not what you think. For any of you who have been fortunate enough to meet our son, you’ll agree that he’s one of the smiliest little toddlers you’ve ever seen. This kid’s smile melts the most curmudgeonly of curmudgeons and reduces most people to smiling and clapping along with his antics.

One of my pet peeves, along with aggressive stroller manuevers, is that people no longer know their neighbors. My father used to tell me stories about how he knew everyone in the neighborhood when he was a kid, and even I knew our neighbors up and down our street. When Brian and I first moved into our house, we were eager to meet our neighbors– after several years of apartment living where we learned far too much about our shared-wall neighbors, it was great to make acquaintances on our own terms. We were fortunate that one of our neighbors introduced themselves right away, and another actually brought over a pie.  But when we noticed a neighbor a few doors down outside working in her garden, our walk down to introduce ourselves definitely frightened her a bit. In the end, she was happy to meet us, but you could tell that neighborly introductions just isn’t done around where we are anymore.

So here’s where the stroller comes into play. When Alexander and I take our morning walks, I greet anyone I see. Usually, Alexander is right there with his signature wave or smile, but even if not, it’s very rare that I don’t get a response. Occasionally, I see the person who is racing back into their house or the jogger/walker who flat-out ignores us, but more often that not, people look pleasantly surprised and respond. We’ve been slowly working our way through the neighborhood, “no outlet” court by “no outlet” court.

Although I’m not learning names yet, I’ve started to see the same people and learn a little more about our neighbors. There’s one house where everysingletime we walk by, he’s mowing the lawn at 10 am. We don’t walk by every day, but darn, we walk by enough to know that the lawn hasn’t grown THAT much. There’s a few other houses where the owner loves plants just as much as me and beams when I comment on their hydrangeas.   I have to laugh a little at my mission because when I was little, it drove me nuts that my mom did the exact same thing. I never understood why she waved or greeted people when where ever we were. I was incredibly embarrassed when I was younger– and now I’m the one pushing the stroller and waving at random mini-vans.

I love that I’m learning my way more around the neighborhood, and that more and more people who are out are either greeting us first or are less quick to run back into their homes. They know we’re not selling magazines or trying to let them know that their recent storm damage qualifies them for a free siding repair estimate. And today, for the first time, a car actually slowed down and the driver waved as we walked by.

Maybe it’s my kid. Maybe it’s our aggressive friendliness. In any case, it’s nice to finally get to know the people around. My not-so-secret hope is that Alexander will grow up to know the people in his neighborhood.