Our neighbours have lived in the house next door for about 3 years. When the previous owners told us they sold their house to an exotic dancer, we were a little concerned, although her occupation was just a rumour. I met her briefly that first summer and grew more concerned when I realized that her brother, who she had left in charge while she was in Toronto working, did nothing to curb the weeds or the grass. The house was looking run down and in disrepair.
By the end of the summer, the brother had been kicked out and Angela invited 2 friends of hers to live in the house and care for it while she was away. One of the men lives on the 3rd floor, in his own suite and the other in the basement. The main and second floors are designated for Andrea and her son.
I was a little concerned about this turn of events too. There were always all kinds of people coming and going, men mostly. But I began to notice that when they came, they worked. Slowly, the house began to look like a home. They painted the trim, opened the pool, planted flowers, mowed the lawn and fixed and painted the garage.
Another thing I noticed was that these people were friendly. If I was outside, they would often come over and we'd talk gardening or weather or dogs. They were hard workers. When Andrea was home, we'd often chat about the challenges of owning a home, the behaviour of our dogs and all kinds of things people talk about. Another thing I noticed was that these men LOVED Andrea. They adore her and this summer, I asked her how she did it. She just smiled and proceeded to tell me about how wonderful her friends are.
Andrea is down to earth and friendly. Somehow, she has created a home for John, a chubby bartender with bad teeth and Ted, the manager of a video game store. A couple of men who have had some hard times and their friend, the construction worker who is there almost every day doing construction work.
Before she moved in, I worried about what kind of neighbour this would be-an exotic dancer of all things. Now, I can say that these are some of the best neighbours we have ever had. Certainly more friendly and approachable than the previous owners who, on the outside seem more "normal." And far better than the neighbours in the house we lived in before this one.
Today, they just did the greatest thing. John, Ted, the construction worker guy and another person I don't know, just cleared 10-15 cm of snow off our whole driveway! They must have spent almost 2 hours at it. First snowblowing and then cleaning it up with shovels. Wes said they did a better job than he'd ever do.
Can't ask for better neighbours than that, don't you think?
I think I'll bake them some cookies tonight.
9 comments:
cookies definately. our construction guys came over with a bobcat. we are making nice and i thought i would bake cookies, as well!
Sounds a little familiar. We were concerned when a university football player bought the house next door and moved in with three or four of his buddies. But they turned out to be really good neighbours too, and even when they party, they're considerate enough to warn us and have even invited us.
Yeah, sometimes I embarrass myself with these kinds of preconceptions and misconcpetions.
If you need help, I have nothing to do until 2008...LOL!!!! (with the cookies, not the snow!!!)
oh how I love beauty in unexpected places...
Mmmm... for your cookies, I'd clear a driveway full of snow, too : )
i agree that centring prayer is wonderfully healing. but who are you and where do you write from?
We were told it was a teacher and a principal moving in next door, and they may well have those jobs during the day, but at night, and especially on the weekends, it's Party Central over there: noisy, noisy noisy, with beer bottles all over our yard the next morning. *sigh* Cookies, you say? Woncha be MY neighbour?!
Having good neighbours can be such a blessing.
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