Change starts at home!

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Thanks to my ever-so ambitious and supportive mother who provided today's title after I explained to her my current volunteer project: organizing a group of neighbors to enlighten an overgrown traffic circle at the end of our block in the Ravenna/U-District neighborhood of Seattle. She noted you can't change the world all at once and that change starts at home.

It got me thinking about our project.

Our enthusiatic group got together at 9am Sunday. It turned out to be a most successful community-oriented event with fellow neighbors bringing their own tools, yard-waste bins, coffee, pastries and edible plants. It was a great opportunity to meet folks we hadn't met before and come together as a group to dig our hands in the dirt and unite as one. We found out we have a group with a great sense of humor and it helped pass time as we joked about the opportunities of our little traffic circle. (Dog park?)

We worked efficiently and cleared the space in about 2 1/2 hours. We were able to keep some aromatic mint and a few established plants in the circle. One of the suprising things that happened were all the neighbors and strangers alike, cruising by giving us their thumbs up and giving us their genuine encouragement about our efforts. It made our group just a little bit prouder.

Afterward, we all enjoyed a sidewalk BBQ and continued our planning for the future of our circle.

So, with our little group of neighbors, we are changing the world; one traffic circle at a time!