Gaining a Sense of Community in Clawson

While I'm no stranger to blogging, this is the first time someone has actually ASKED me to talk about things! 

I was recently approached by our fearless leader/editor Nicquel Terry, who wanted to know if I was interested in contributing to the Clawson Patch, and I thought "why not? I talk enough, maybe I can talk about some things that someone might find interesting" so for my inaugural post, I'm going to walk you through what the last 3 years living in Clawson have been like.

I grew up in Ferndale, MI, in the same house that my parents brought me home from the hospital to. This "starter home" for my parents has turned into their "forever home", and life circumstances, hiccups, and probably some fear, caused me to delay moving out of my parents house until I was the ripe old age of 29.

Enter the great housing crash of 2008.  (Which, for me, couldn't have been at a better time because in a good economy, I could never have afforded this house).

30+ homes later, most of them foreclosures, and feeling frustrated/defeated/tired, I was ready to end the search. Putting in offers on houses I didn't even really care for, but I just wanted to be done. Then, on the last day of searching and the first house I saw, I walked into a house in Clawson (well I had walked into several houses in Clawson) and at the end of the day thought "you know, I think I like that house" and long story short, it was mine.

Ironically, the first house I looked at was also in Clawson, and just around the corner (but driving through some of the streets the first time, boy I got lost!) and when I walk past that one, I think "wow, whoever bought that did a ton of work!  I wonder what they did to the kitchen that was gutted." But, I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and the little house that I bought has given me more then I could ask for.  It's a pain in the butt sometimes (which reminds me, I need to call the chimney guy because the chimney cap came loose again with all the wind, or I've got a very strong raccoon up there), but when I bought this house, I also got the best group of neighbors I could ask for. Right next door and across the street, I've got friends, a support system, surrogate parents, another single girl, kids that love my dog, people that will feed him and look in on him if I'm stuck working late, and just last year a few of us got together and planned our first block party which went really well and we are looking forward to planning our second one this summer!

That's the thing I never got in Ferndale, the sense of community. Even living there for 29 years, I didn't socialize with my neighbors as much as I do now, and that is just one of the several things I love about this little town, you know someone will always have your back.  Whenever someone tells me they are looking for a place, they immediately say "Royal Oak" and I urge them to look at Clawson.  Lower property taxes, we're not big enough to try and be trendy like Royal Oak (and frankly, I like that we're not) and best of all, I always tell people when they ask why I spend so much time in Clawson "because there is free parking and plenty of it".

Seriously, don't take that away! 

Stay tuned for the next post where I'll give you my opinions on some of the places I frequent here!