After a year and a half in our new town, we're slowly getting to know our neighbors a little better. It hasn't been easy, because our ten-year old kid doesn't go to school in this town. Our 13 year old isn't increasing our social circle, because, by middle school, most parents have backed out of the socialization and fund raising activities that occur in schools. Ack. If the kids aren't helping you score new friends, what good are they?

But we're friendly-type people and we do our own lawn work, so people will sometimes wander over to chat. 

A young-ish, childless couple lives in a traditional Colonial across the street. We don't see them much, because they work crazy hours in the city. They return from the train station late at night. On the weekends, we might see them padding out in PJ bottoms to pick up their newspaper from the end of the driveway in the early afternoon. 

For a long time, that couple puzzled me. Who would move out to the suburbs unless they were forced out of the city by the need for schools? Why would you move so far from your job? Why would you live in a huge house, if you don't need all that space? But I've heard that this is part of the latest trend. Younger people are more interested in suburban life than old Gen-Xers like myself. (Where or where did I read that?)