Neighborliness

"Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together." ~Johann von Goethe ~

It seems I got lucky as far as neighbors go. The first few days I owned the house the neighbor across the street came over to talk and shovel the driveway with me. He managed to give me quite a bit of history about the neighbors...chatty storytelling. Apparently, one of the neighbors (she's in her nineties) was one of the first residents more than seventy years ago. She was newly married and hanging wash out to dry when a cow came up and nudged her in the back. Then who adopted and from what country, etc. Who got "frisky" after their kids were grown and ended up with a surprise baby at menopause. Well, I was thoroughly charmed by the conversation as he had such a matter-of-fact affect and colorful language (not in the swearing sense). And, I had assistance shoveling the snow to boot!

"He does good to himself who does good to his friend." ~ Erasmus ~

My next door neighbor came over to meet us as my brother, Mom and I were walking in one day. I introduced him to my brother and then he said he knew our mother (my brother and I were shooting a look at each other like - yeah, sure!). But, it turns out he drives bus for the adult day care that Mom attends and he did indeed know her. Well, Mom ended up in the hospital this past week (she's out now and recovering) and then it snowed. So, my brother and I came to the house today armed with shovels as we figured we would need to clear the snow to get the garbage bin filled with cement and tile out to the curb for pickup tomorrow. What did we find? The driveway was cleared. We could tell the next door neighbor had cleared a footpath for the postman to walk on from house to house and then continued on into my driveway and cleared that as well. Was it because he knew Mom was in the hospital and that I was busy caring for her? Perhaps. But it most certainly brought a smile to my face and filled my heart with gratitude.

"We are primarily on this earth not to see through one another, but to see one another through." ~ Peter De Vries ~