Coming home felt like slipping back into something warm and familiar. My neighbors introduced themselves the week we moved in. My husband came home from his first day at work with wide eyes and said, "People are so *nice* here." And yes — they are. We are. There's something genuinely beautiful about the warmth of this place: the small talk, the wave across the driveway, the tater tot casserole that shows up when someone in the neighborhood is having a hard week.

Niceness is polite on the surface, but it tends to avoid discomfort. It keeps things pleasant. It smooths over tension. It excels at small talk and surface-level connection. But difficult conversations? Disagreement? Diverging perspectives? Niceness will differ to safer topics like the weather or last night’s game.