Meeting The Neighbors

This Labor Day weekend, I actually met three of my neighbors. One is a young lady - teenager or early 20s - who lives in the house to my left with her mother, whom I had met before. We both happened to be coming out of our houses at the same time. Part of the reason I haven't yet met any neighbors is that I get in my car in the garage (love the garage!). So by the time I hit the garage, I am ensconced in my car. But this particular day, I was putting the top down. I can't put the top down in the car. It hits the ceiling when I do. So I moved the car into the driveway to put the top down. As it was finishing, the young lady came out of her house. She saw me, waved, and then started to walk over. I was actually running late for an appointment, but I still stopped to talk to her. It's always good to know the neighbors, but to be honest, I'm also planning to change out all the windows in this house - and that requires permission from my immediate neighbors. Regardless, I would have stopped to talk. She was a lovely young woman, wearing a Doors t-shirt, a band her mother probably wasn't old enough to have actually heard live. Oh well. It's good to have music continue to have an audience. She did make me feel old, as does anyone in her age range. They remind me that I am old enough - and then some - to be their parent. She asked me if I had any kids or a husband, but alas, neither. Just a couple of lovely cats who keep me company, and the occasional foster kitten.

When I got back from my appointment, the elderly couple across the street was out working on his car, which had a flat. I had seen him that morning, actually, on our way to the mailbox. We had exchanged "Good mornings" but no names. This time, with his wife there, they waved and she said "Good morning" and something to the effect of having wanted to say hello but not usually seeing me. In fact, again, the only reason they were seeing me was because the garage door wasn't down yet (the car was in the garage) because I had a bunch of stuff to get out of the car and hadn't made it to the button to close the door yet. But, as it appeared to be the day to meet the neighbors, I went over to their place and met them both. He's retired. She's a flight attendant who flies all over the world, but mostly to Spain from what she was saying. Anyway, she's gone for days at a time, but he's around and was volunteered to take in my garbage can or packages - whatever I might need. Very nice. I did notice that they are ardent Republicans - Bush/Cheney and McCain/Palin bumper stickers. So we probably shouldn't talk politics or all that neighborly feeling might go away. Particularly when it comes to Palin. Still, nice folks and you never know when I might need my garbage can taken in.