![\"\"](\"http:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/phone.jpg\" "\\"phone\\"")
<\/a>A vast sea of cell phones that become more obsolete with each passing second...<\/p><\/div>\n
I recall my teenage moment when I rolled my eyes into the back of my head when my grandfather told me about walking a mile to school without shoes in the winter. I also recall getting “the look” from my oldest son when I told him when I grew up, we did not have a microwave. The look implied, first of all, “who cares,” and secondly, “I can\u2019t relate.” Whatever\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Between my early childhood\u00a0to my mid-thirties, I had moved several times and lived in numerous states and settings from extremely remote and rural, to downtown, to suburbia. The one thing in common with each neighborhood, I always knew who my neighbors were. Sometimes it was because of the friendships generated through my boys who always had friends dropping by, or sometimes it was the adult friendships that brought such wonderful traditions as sharing a cup of coffee or a neighborhood barbecue. You always knew you could pick up the phone if there were an emergency, and even if you didn’t like a particular neighbor, you still knew who they were by name and sight. The friendships were not necessarily born of common interests or shared passions, but the simple implied bond of the street you lived on.<\/p>\n Zoey, Harley, and Mia are perfectly coordinated against the warm and neutral colors that compliment the afghan I made for our living room couch. My favorite time of the day is when I finally call it quits and have the furry gang come snuggle on my lap with the afghan keeping my toes warm!<\/p><\/div>\n Throughout the weave of all those years, all those neighbors, and all those moves, was the pattern of my life that was held together by a patchwork of cats and crocheting projects. I had always been a relatively shy, reserved, and quiet person and somehow the relationship I had with my cats and a ball of yarn seemed the perfect company for me to ponder life in my own private way. My cats never judged me, always took me at face value, and I often felt their company far superior to many a human I had encountered. I felt a comfort and quiet beauty in each skein of yarn and found it to be a soothing metaphor for the patchwork of life and not just the patchwork of a blanket I was crocheting. Somehow all of these unique colors, textures, and yarn weights were able to coexist in harmony, as do the people of a neighborhood community.<\/p>\n The kittens - Rolz, Mia, and Peanut at about 3 months old, who, along with a crocheting project, helped inspire me to write my book.<\/p><\/div>\n It seemed like so many events in my life could be traced back to whatever afghan I was making at the time and what cat(s) were napping on my lap with me. Some afghans were made quickly for a special occasion, such as a baby gift, and some, like the one that became pivotal to my dream of writing my first book, took me over 10 years to finish. Somehow in all that time, it still waxes me sentimental and I have leftover balls of yarn to this day I cannot part with that are tucked away in a\u00a0wicker basket that holds all of these cherished remnants.<\/p>\n I now find that I cannot judge the younger generation, as I have become them. I still have my bond with my cats and my crocheting, but my neighborhood now consists of the network of friends I have made because of my computer. I am not terribly proud to admit this, but I can honestly say with the exception of the man who lives across the street from me, I have no idea who any of my neighbors are. I literally get up in the morning, drive to work, and then drive home 10 hours later. Once I am home, I am utterly exhausted and my world consists of my family, Dan, my cats, and increasingly, the endearing relationships I am\u00a0garnering from social networking as I try to build up my blogging and writing career before I go to bed and start all over again. I am attached (addicted) to my technological devices and because of that, my neighborhood is now a new patchwork collage of uniqueness, but rather than it being constructed of the people coming and going on my block, it is a patchwork of like-minded peers that I have bonded with due to our love of a common passion \u2013 cats. And from that common passion comes very similar passions, such as reading, writing, books, blogging, and crocheting (or knitting, if you so prefer).<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>