Good Neighbors

My ex-husband and I got the short end of the stick when it came to neighbors. I don't know how we missed it when we bought this house, but we signed and sealed ourselves to living next door to people we quickly came to call "The Asscracks."

I had gone to school with the Asscracks, although I didn't remember them. They had 3 kids and a revolving door of dogs that came and went. The dogs were usually mean, because they received about as much affection as one would expect from an amoeba. The Asscracks never cleaned up after the dogs, and in July and August our entire street took on the lovely odor of sweltering pooch poop. When the children would go out to play and step in crap because they pretty much couldn't get across the front lawn without doing so, Papa Asscrack would yell at them and call them retarded.

And that was some of their BETTER behavior.

So you can imagine, we were beyond thrilled when the Asscracks put a "for sale" sign on the lawn and actually cleaned up so that potential buyers wouldn't run screaming from Poop Palace. We did a happy dance when they actually packed up and moved. And we were even more thrilled when we met our new neighbors.

I've written about C & T before. We hit it off immediately, because they moved in with a brood of ferrets. Weasel people always rock in my book. But it was so much more than that. They were warm and friendly and funny. We went from avoiding our neighbors to having chats over the fence and popping in on each other now and then. We watched in amazement as they turned the barren, poop-scarred yard the Asscracks had left behind and turned it into a beautiful haven for themselves and local critters. We were even more amazed at what they did with the inside of the house.

When the ex and I split and I was here by myself, I never felt totally alone because they were next door. I'd often come home from work to little notes or gifts from C in my mailbox, or find a new book to read waiting for me on the porch. If they were ordering dinner, they'd call me and see if I'd join them, and we'd sit and chat and chow in their kitchen and I'd feel like I kind of had family to come home to. T would do little things around the yard that he knew I didn't know how to do myself, without asking me first. And when I had to travel for work, they would happily take in my ferrets while I was gone.

I grew to appreciate how important good neighbors are in that time period. So many people, me included, spend more time talking to distant friends online than they do the people who live next door. Having C and T in my life let me know what life was like in the less wired but somehow more connected world of an earlier time.

I'm thinking about them today because they STILL look out for Lee and I. He's been trying to start his own side business doing lawn maintenance and landscaping. As soon as C found out, she insisted they hire him on to give T a break since he's been working so hard. And then she promptly told every single one of our other neighbors that they should do the same. She's gotten him two additional regular jobs so far, with the possibility of a third. Since she's a homemaker and usually around, she's made a point to get to know all of our neighbors and everyone loves her. Her recommendation goes a long way with people.

I feel extra blessed because I live in the best of both worlds that way. I'm part of the wired age, where I can get to know people who are far away from me and have an extended "neighborhood" I'd never have otherwise. But I'm also taken back to a calmer, gentler time when people took the time to get to know and be part of the lives of the folks living right next door.

Maybe my good luck is karmic payback from living next to the Asscracks for so long. Or maybe I'm just fortunate.