I've been living here for a little over two years. My next door neighbor and I became "instant pals" even before I signed the down payment check for the house. I'm pretty young for our area (60 living in the "historic" section), so most of my neighbors are old enough to be my moms and dads. We have a very close-knit neighborhood - we watch out for each other, some of us have keys to the others' homes "just in case," we'll stop literally in the middle of the road to yap with each other if we're out there at the same time, and so on.
For me, they're not the same kind of "friendship" as I had with the kids in the neighborhood when I was growing up. But - I don't see any of those folks anymore, I occasionally check in with them on their facebook pages to say Happy Birthday or congrats or condolences, but that's it.
The friendships we have now, here in the Villages, are still fairly new. We've only known each other for 2 years (or less with some of the newer homeowners). But the friendships are still neighborhood friendships. We're like family. It's very nice.
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