WATCHING OUT FOR NEIGHBORS

Twenty-one years ago we moved to our present home. We were the new kids on the block. Many of our neighbors were in their 60s and already retired. My husband and I were in our 40s and both worked so we never had the opportunity to really get to know our neighbors. Time has passed and we are no longer the new kids on the block, however, we have gotten to know our neighbors.

One summer when we were new to the neighborhood, our neighbor came over and mowed our lawn while we were on vacation. He wanted to keep our home from looking like we were gone. We didn’t ask him to do this because we barely knew him, he just did it. He was watching out for us.

Our next door neighbor is a widow whose bedroom window I see from my bedroom window and somewhere in the back of my mind I noticed that every day she puts her shades up. One day, however, the shades were not up, the next day the same thing, so I called to check on her. It turns out she was sick with a cold and staying in bed. She was so thankful that I was watching out for her.

While driving down the street one day I noticed the screen door and a window broken on another neighbor’s front door. I called the police who came to investigate. Turns out the neighbor had to rush off to work and didn’t have time to get it repaired before leaving. She called to thank me for watching out for her.

One late evening as my husband and I were going out I noticed another neighbor’s side garage door slightly open. I called and told them about the door and they thanked me for watching out for them.

In the morning while sitting on the front porch reading I heard a loud noise come from a neighbor’s home where the husband had been ill lately. I kept watching to see any activity. Nothing. Finally, I called and asked if everything was okay. It seems tree branches fall on their roof and that is what I heard. They thanked me for watching out for them.

Our neighborhood is going through a change now as younger families move in. One day I noticed our new neighbor’s garage door open all day but never saw any other activity. We went over, introduced ourselves, gave him our names and phone number and told him we were just checking to make sure everything was okay. 

I guess what I’m saying is that no matter how well we know, or don’t know, our neighbors we can still watch out for and keep each other safe. Many of these neighbors watched out for us when we were new to the neighborhood and now it is our opportunity to watch out for them. And, hopefully, the circle will continue and the new families moving here will watch out for us. And so the journey begins...