Living in Delaware.....

Dave and I spent about ten years living in Old New Castle, Delaware....this was a very special "small" historic place situated on the Delaware River just outside Wilmington. Our house was 200 years old and we loved it. Yes....an old house has its challenges, and living in historic area of New Castle was a unique experience. (We once had a couple walk right in our front door because they thought our house was a pub!) The historic area, part of the National Historic Registry, measured maybe ten blocks by ten blocks....old homes, brick streets, a walking path along the Delaware River. It was unique...and forgotten for many years. The interstate from Philadelphia to Washington DC bypassed it....so it "slept" for many years. When it was "rediscovered" people came in and worked on the historic homes. They didn't put up aluminum siding...they respected the history and preserved it.

Hollywood directors chose historic New Castle for movies....because it was so special. Go and watch "The Color Purple" — it was filmed in front of our church and we watched the actors as they enacted the scenes. And "Dead Poet's Society"....the scene where the young actor runs across our "green" to a historic house on Second Street. This was Old New Castle. Good Morning America came to film a segment in our little town...and I watched and waved from the sidewalk. Old New Castle was not a Williamsburg, it wasn't a reconstruction...it was real.

And when we attended services at the Presbyterian church two blocks from our home we could turn around and see our State's Governor and his family sitting in a pew a few rows behind us. Delaware is a VERY small state, and people know each other....they even know the people they elect to office, and they hold them to account.

So the other night, while working on a quilt, I watched some of the Democratic convention and listened to Vice President Joe Biden. And my eyes filled....and my throat tightened. I feel like I know this man, this man from Delaware. He started his service to America before we lived in our old house....but his story was part of the "neighborhood" lore. I admire his service, and his words tonight were personal and meaningful.

It was nice living in a small state and having the opportunity to feel that you, just regular middle-class you, had a chance to meet and get to know your State's leaders without having to contribute thousands to re-election campaigns. Not everyone has that chance....not everyone feels a personal connection to a candidate when they walk into a voting booth. But somehow, for me, that small personal interaction, a smile, a hello, a cup of coffee after church service, made a difference. I wasn't casting a vote for a stranger....I was casting my vote for a neighbor.