Neighbors

Work has been extra-stressful lately. Pure miserable.

Today we finished a marathon conference call with a client, and I needed to just get out for a while and relax. I decided to take a quick walk up and down my street.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous - low 60's, bright and sunny - perfect for January (hey - don't hate. I'm not a cold weather/winter sort of girl!)

Low and behold a neighbor popped out of her house to say hello. No, not a new neighbor. She bought her house a year before I bought mine. We've just never met. Our neighborhood pretty much stays inside you see - and we keep to ourselves.

That got me to thinking about what "neighborhood" used to mean. When everyone knew everyone else, trick or treating on Halloween was perfectly safe (no concerns about bad food, or razor blades in the chocolate - y'all remember that scare, right??). When the elderly lady down the street would invite you in for a cookie, or lemonaide. When we had free reign to ride our bikes 2.5 miles through the subdivision, and noone worried. If someone passed, or had a baby, or was sick, everyone brought food. And there were always holiday goodies at Christmas.

You remember those days, don't you??

Yeah, our neighborhood isn't really like that. I sort of wish it was. So it was really nice that my neighbor popped out to say hello.

Turns out she's close to my age, works from home, likes dogs, and she and her husband are doing a bunch of home improvement projects. Yeah, that's what I said - sounds familiar!!!!

Huh. Lookee there. I have a new neighbor.

What are your neighborhoods like? Close and friendly? Distant, but polite? Somewhere in between?

Enjoy your new day!