To the People Who Show Up
By the time you’re reading this, Christmas will be over. I’m sure we’ve had a lovely time. But today, I was fluffing bows.
I was twisting red ribbon, wiring greenery together, getting wreaths ready to hang on the entrance signs for my Civic League neighborhoods – Chelsea, Green Hill, and Meadowridge. While I worked, I found myself thinking about all the people who came before me and did their part to make our neighborhoods special.
Because before I ever moved to Great Neck, someone was already doing this. Quietly, without a thank-you parade or recognition in a newsletter. Just… doing it. For the simple reason that it made our neighborhood feel like home. And I am so grateful. I know some of them are still here, and as we worked today I found myself hoping they think the wreaths look pretty this year.
But it’s more than just wreaths.
It’s the person who takes it upon themselves to weed the entrance flower beds in July. It’s whoever runs your Civic League, coordinates the Memorial Day picnic, organizes the 4th of July parade, plans the Easter egg hunt in the park. It’s the neighbor who makes the sign-up sheet for the casserole drop-off after someone has surgery — or mows the median “just because it looked like it needed it.”
Those “someones” are everywhere in Great Neck.
Whether you live in Chelsea, Green Hill, Meadowridge, or any of our other amazing neighborhoods, chances are that your sense of pride and belonging is built, in part, on a foundation of work you didn’t even know was happening.
There’s something beautiful about that.
And there’s something even more beautiful about joining in when you’re ready.
That’s what happened for me. I saw the wreaths our first Christmas here — we’d moved in that March — and I remember thinking, Wow. Someone took the time to do this. I felt lucky to live somewhere that people care so much. And over the years, when the chance came to help, I did.
So as we hung wreaths today, I just kept thinking that I’m grateful. Grateful to the people who came before me. Grateful that I get to keep it going.
This article is a little nod to all the invisible caretakers of Great Neck – both now and in years past. The ones whose names you might not know. The ones who show up anyway.
Thank you.
And if you’ve ever wondered how it all comes together — this might be your moment to raise your hand and be one of the “someones.”
We’d love to have you.
