The Drive Around My Hood

My neighborhood is called Towerlakes. It is located on CR 350 off of 181 and ends at Loop 1604. Basically, it is halfway between Floresville and San Antonio, Texas. I live fairly deep in the neighborhood in a white brick house with a brown roof. I have a “U” shaped driveway and stand on about three acres of land.
In my neighborhood, we do not really stop by each others houses and there are no neighborhood parties. We enjoy our privacy and we also enjoy a clean and safe neighborhood. Many of the neighbors I have go to the same church as my family and me. We have many nice families in our area that have grown with my family. There are not too many young children anymore because everyone has grown up and gone off to college. There are primarily working class citizens in my neighborhood and hardly any mobile homes. All the houses are custom built and each home has at least three acres.
For this assignment I took a walk through my neighborhood and visited with two neighbors. First I saw my Aunt Susie. She spoke of the early neighborhood and of a time when there was not many houses. It started with the first five lots which were the Wiatreks, Ramsenkis, Lyssy’s and the Flores’. She could not remember the fifth. A couple of years later, my aunt built on a lot here. She recalled of the land being so bare and open. Now, there are thirty-seven houses in my neighborhood. Even though it does not feel crowded to me, I am sure my aunt feels differently.
The second neighbor I spoke was a friend of my father’s. His name is William Lyssy but he preferred to be called Bill. He happened to remember moving in the neighborhood all those years ago and felt the same as my aunt about how the space has gradually been taken away by the development of more homes. The interesting story behind this home-owner was he was a Vietnam veteran. He had several stories to tell of his career in the military. However, he seemed to have difficultly recalling some of his life during that time. It was the most interesting thing to have met an actual veteran and right in my neighborhood.
The neighborhood has been around since about the mid 1980’s and from that time has made some excellent families. Not to mention, all the excellent memories. For example, every Halloween the whole neighborhood takes their children and grandchildren trick or treating on the back of pick-ups or on hay rides. It is a bright night in the neighborhood. A family down the street, the Bodifords, always has a haunted house. I remember when I was young enough to go trick or treating it was the scariest ordeal to go into their haunted house. Many memories such as this have been clearly embedded in I am sure not only my mind, but the rest of the neighborhood as well. So if you are ever in the neighborhood, please stop by!