Mr. Rogers and My Homeschool Neighbors

I think that the first person who ever called me a neighbor was Mr. Rogers when I was but a tot. There was a man wholey focused on children and the nurture of their souls. I have only ever met one other human being as focused on children and their well-being as Mr. Rogers, and that is a karate instructor I know who is focused on saving children from neglect, pressure, and even abuse at the hands of their parents.
But back to Mr. Rogers. He was my first neighbor. He was also the person who explained to me, very patiently in his books, why I needed to step out of the rat race and away from a career in order to raise my children. As he put it, you only have your children for a short while. Why would you want to step away from them and hand them over to someone else to raise when you could be there to nurture them and explore the world with them?
As he was my neighbor, I listened to his words and took them to heart. And I never looked back. The path he set me on led to homeschooling my children, discovering God, and eventually to a wonderful clan of homeschooling women who share a devotion to Christ and a deep and abiding love for their children. These women have become my new neighbors. Even thought they live all about the country, and even beyond, they are the people I turn to when I need advice or want to share a thought. They may not be next door or down the street, but they are in a more real sense my neighbors than anyone who lives near me.
And so a childhood neighbor led me to homeschooling and God and then I discovered my true neighbors.

Want to read other ideas about neighbors? Hop on over to Kate Mojang’s Five Minute Friday link up HERE.

Now, do you have great neighbors? If not, where  find your neighborhood?