Crazy witch at the top of the hill or nice white lady?

You know how kids tell stories at Halloween - stories that end with one child daring the other child to knock on the door of the scary old lady at the top of the hill and both kids run away laughing? That was me when I first moved here. Not the kids running away - the scary lady whose door they knocked on. All the kids in the neighborhood avoided me and our house like the plague. Two little boys thought it was hilarious to sit just to the side of the door and knock. When I looked out, I couldn't see them but I could hear their little giggles.

One day, a little girl peeked in my window and said hello. I said hello back. And that was it. All of a sudden, I wasn't scary anymore! Now, I was their favorite person! Before, the kids would run past my door. Now, they spend all day playing on my front steps. They respectfully hold their soccer balls as I walk past (instead of trying to "accidently" kick them in my direction as before). The kids fight to be the one to knock on my door to tell me when my laundry has fallen off the line and they run to tell me if the mail man came while I was gone. What a difference! :)