Thankful for good neighbors

I started thinking about how lucky my husband and I are to have good neighbors.

In this world of people who drive into their garages, shut the door and never talk, we have friendly neighbors who stand and talk in our yards and watch out for each other.

We not only wave at our neighbors, though; we know about their lives, celebrate with them and mourn with them, too. My neighbor across the street not long ago lost his wife of almost 60 years. She was a wonderful woman, and I always enjoyed talking to her — about our families, books we liked and what was going on with our other neighbors. We check on her husband now, but his grown children visit often.

There’s a saying: “Good fences make good neighbors.” How about when you plow down your neighbor’s fence? A couple of years ago, my husband’s car somehow rolled down our driveway and took out a part of this same man’s fence, leaving ruts in his yard. He didn’t get mad. He just said, “These things happen.” We fixed the fence, but can you imagine what would have happened in some neighborhoods in the world? There would have been a lawsuit — maybe a shooting.

A week or so ago, the morning after a storm, we saw a huge part of our one remaining Bradford pear tree lying across the yard and street.

My husband was outside contemplating which neighbor to ask for a chain saw because we don’t own one, and he asked Robert, our neighbor down the street. He sawed the pieces, and my husband stacked them.

This is the same man who rescued our former cat, Bacon, when he got stuck in the garage door. Robert first took a photo of the bobbed-tail cat dangling half out of the top of the garage, but I really can’t blame him. It was a curious sight, and I’m glad we have the photo. The cat went on to use more of his nine lives after that.

This guy was also the one who gave my husband a ride to our son’s workplace one summer a few years ago after I drove to Little Rock with my husband’s car keys.

And not only do you get help from the guy, you get lots of stories to go with it — about the military and other adventures he’s had. (Although I’m still not sure I believe his story that he sewed up his own arm that has the scar on it.) Robert came back with his handy-dandy chain saw this week and took down the rest of the tree. As people walked by with their dogs, Robert knew not only the owners’ names — he knew the dogs’ names.

Our neighbors on either side of us are friendly, too. One helped me shovel snow out of the driveway when my husband was gone, and he has also let us borrow a thing or two. I have a good drawing of Bacon that the neighbor on the opposite side drew for me. Our newest neighbors put us to shame the way they keep their yard landscaped, and I’m thinking about asking the woman’s advice for mine.

The front of our house is exposed now without a tree to obscure it.

I have a long way to go to be the kind of neighbor I want to be, but luckily, I have a lot of good examples to follow.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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