THIS CHALLENGING YEAR I’LL REMEMBER THE CARE OF MY NEIGHBORS

2020 will always be known as the year a brutal pandemic changed the world. But it didn’t impact everyone the same way. What will you remember most about 2020? We asked The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Community Voices Project contributors. Eight pieces ran on Christmas Day and Monday, four more appear below and more will run later this week.

A new family just moved in on my street, and I learned that their 8-, excuse me, almost 9-year-old girl compared living in our neighborhood to being in a feel-good family movie! How sweet it is that she already had a sense for the soul of our tiny part of the world. It is that neighborliness that I’m most going to remember from this past crazy year.

Apparently while my new neighbors were carrying boxes, arranging furniture and dealing with the general hubbub of moving, two other girls on the block — 10 and 13 — came by on their bikes. They knocked on the front door. And they asked: Can the new girl in the neighborhood come out to play?

If that’s not like a scene in some heartwarming Hallmark movie that’s going to run every holiday season, I don’t know what is!

In the short time this family have been around, it has already met so many people. That’s because every day people are taking walks, and they are waving to each other — like it’s Main Street in some sort of black-and-white film. There is kindness among strangers, and you can feel the togetherness that has kept us sane. There’s concern for one another and all the stuff that we share in our private social media group, from Amazon package thieves to car break-ins.

In 2020, with all that has happened, I know we all wanted to make sure this family felt welcome. In my own mind, I had a particularly strong obligation, probably because my family was the last to move in. We bought our house in January, and we and this new family bookend 2020 with all the stuff that happened in between.

Now it isn’t just the cookies, bread, chili, wine and fruit we all share that has made the neighborhood special. It wasn’t just the meal train, for instance, my neighbor across the street set up on her own after the birth of my daughter.

It’s also the character I’ve seen in my neighbors facing adversity and conf lict that has been so remarkable.

I saw this on my first day. Without my new neighbors, our introduction to the street would have turned into a horror f lick. Before COVID-19 was even an acronym burned into our neurons, we showed up with our stuff to move in. We were so excited

— we had just sold our condo and bought our first single-family home to prepare for the arrival of my little girl.

We drove up, and guess who was still there: the previous owner! He hadn’t moved out! His stuff was everywhere. This 70-year-old man was trying to move heavy pieces of furniture and 20 years of belongings all by himself. And for some reason, he refused to hire any movers. So I wasn’t going to get to move into a home I now owned.

I almost had a blood vessel pop in my head when I had to catch a bookshelf that nearly fell on him. Thankfully, my Navy training conditioned me to stay levelheaded.

The neighbors could all see what was going on. It was a sight to be seen, for sure. But instead of being bystanders, many came by and politely introduced themselves. And then, they’d each pick up a box or some furniture and move it into the departing owner’s rented truck. In fact, I put everything my wife and I needed to do on pause. We just started to help, too.

What I lost in the days of setting up my family’s home was more than gained in some new and tested bonds with neighbors. Indeed, we were woven into the fabric of the neighborhood and reminded of the give-and-take by all that creates the sense of belonging we cherish.

What I will remember is that my daughter now has a larger family on this block, just like the new little girl who moved in. I’ll never forget how despite the craziness — whether it was preCOVID-19 with my move or in-the-thick-of-it COVID-19 with my new neighbor — the kindness, the thoughtfulness, the civility in disagreements — yes, we’ve had those! — and the genuine care have all been consistent and persistent.

And hardship has only made this great neighborhood even better. Yet with all the goings-on that 2020 brought to us — victories or losses at the ballot box, a pandemic, racial tensions — I doubt those will be the things my neighbors and I remember.

It’s the motherhood and apple pie we’ll remember. And this year certainly brought that out even more, especially if it was already there.

Hong