By Not all neighbors are created equal. I’m on my neighborhood’s HOA committee that approves of paint/exterior work on the homes. You’d be surprised the squabbles we run into. The latest one occurred between neighboring townhouses, where townhouse 1 has a sunroom whose wall abuts townhouse 2’s deck. Years ago townhome 2’s homeowner brandished a gun and threatened the owner of townhouse 1 if they came onto townhome 2’s property to paint the ‘shared’ wall. The only way he backed down is if the wall was painted the color of townhome 2’s house. Fast forward 5 years, there’s a new homeowner in townhome 2, but unfortunately new owner has same bad attitude. Townhome 1 tried to return the wall to the original color (of townhome 1) and the townhome 2 owner went ballistic.
So that story, if you can follow it, is an example of neighbors behaving badly.
But for every story like the above, there are at least 100 stories of neighbors being nice/kind to each other. Rather than focus on the jerks out there, today let’s focus on the many acts of kindness that neighbors take.
Here are a few I know of:
- Years ago, my parent’s neighbors would let us come over and use their pool when they were out of town
- I’ve participated in multiple meal trains (in and out of the neighborhood), when someone has fallen ill or injured themselves
- Picking up mail while a neighbor is out of town
- I’ve had a neighbor move my trashcans off the street when I was called out of town unexpectedly
- My neighbor invites me over and feeds me on a regular basis, which definitely helps me out!
Have your neighbors helped you out? Have you said thank you?
To inspire you, here’s a picture of me and my neighbor Inez. She and I walk most weekdays, which gives us an opportunity to catch up. We’re not going to win any races, but that’s not the point. We enjoy some fellowship and get out heart rates up. It’s great to start the day knowing that we are looking out for each other.
