Surrey Tribe, Linda’s Bio:

In my personal biography, I was to fast forward to reminisce on my childhood, to share my unique and wonderful neighbourhood gem that I am very grateful to have grown up in. Let me paint the picture and you’ll have to go back to the 80’s now, where like most children living in this era played freely, wildly and very much unsupervised. Our kid tribe, consisted of 3 sibling pairs, us three girls, (All the same age) and three boys, all the same age. We naturally and authentically played from morning until dusk with full energy. Playing tag, roller skating, climbing trees, and boys vs. girls war games. With our backyards aligned so were our parent’s friendships that were strong and solid.

Our normally quiet neighbourhood would explode monthly with all each neighbour taking turns to host a community social events such as, BBQ’s, dances, pool parties, and all kids sleepovers ect.

Us, youngsters, referred to our neighbour parents in reverence as ‘Auntie’ or ‘Uncle’ and they were not beneath disciplining any child on the block that was misbehaving. We were like a huge family and kind of a ‘all hands on deck’ community in regards to child rearing.

Time seemed to stand still in our peace of heaven, until years later, our family had to relocate to Vancouver Island. At 16 years old, I had to move and start from scratch in a new place. This was extremely traumatising as my bubble of securing was popped and I felt its lasting consequences for years to come. I certainly struggled and maintaining connection the Surrey Tribe as great distance reeked havoc on our relationships and time created a wedge between us.

Years later, slowly but surely, we began to reconnect.. A wedding here and a birthday party there.. I had again found ‘my people!’ Currently the neighbourhood still stands, the houses are looking worn with age and trees and shrubs have matured into lush growth as new people moved in one by one and the tribe gone.

But the incredible love and bond remained timeless and as adults, I still call the neighbourhood parents, aunt and uncle, and my old friends are still my friends, but the best part is we extended family to our children to play and have connection with a third generation of the Surrey Tribe. I can’t express in words without getting emotional how special this community was as it graced us blessings for generations.