Daily Musings

When we moved into the neighborhood, I told myself I wanted to meet the neighbors and get to know some of them. It just felt more friendly that way and I wouldn’t feel awkward running into them. Pre-covid, we knew about three neighbors really well and a few more by name. 

Since covid, we’ve met another handful and now we know over 10 neighbors. A few days ago, I loaded the kids up to walk around the neighborhood and deliver our Christmas cards. We stopped at the first house and rang the doorbell. After a bit, the dad came to the door and we gave him our card. We chatted very briefly before we parted ways. The wind was a lot stronger than I had anticipated so 55 degrees felt much colder than I thought. I told myself I'd go next-door, deliver one more card, and then go home. We went next-door and rang the doorbell. We waited a little while, and I didn't think they were going to open the door so we started back down the steps. Then, our neighbor opened the door and we had a delightful little conversation with him. 

When we left his house, I decided to keep going. The wind felt stronger because we were walking on a north south street and the wind was blowing north. I told myself once we turned the corner and started on an east west street, it would feel much better. In fact, it actually did. We walked to the street one over from ours and went to deliver a card to a sweet neighbor we'd met last year during Covid. She had randomly opened her door one day and came out to talk to us. I think my son was only about six months old at the time. And now he was telling her "buh-bye." 

Our last house on the way back was the neighbor directly across the street from us. I still remember driving up to see our house when it was for sale and parking in front of their house because that's the direction my car was facing. I remember thinking to myself that their house had lovely curb appeal. Shortly after we moved in, they had their front door painted a shade of maroon. Aggie maroon. I told them I was a longhorn but would not be painting our front door burnt orange. They invited us in to show the kids their Christmas decorations. I pushed our stroller about 2/3 of the way up their steps so it wasn't sitting in the middle of the sidewalk below. 

We stayed and had a lovely chat and the children were able to explore and peruse the rooms of their house. In the middle of our visit, he received a phone call. Turns out, it was the neighbor across from their house who lived next-door to us. He was calling because he saw something that looked like a homeless person's cart in front of their house. Our neighbor laughed and joked it was his wife's. Then he told him it was our stroller. Everyone had a good laugh. 

The kids checking our their ride.

When my daughter started telling me she was hungry, I knew it was time for us to make our way home and get lunch ready. As we made our way to the front door, she found another room to explore and somewhat forgot about being hungry. Children...gotta love them. 

We arrived home and I told my husband about the stroller story. He laughed. Somehow I ended up picking the worst day to take a walk around the neighborhood and deliver Christmas cards, but it turned out to be such a fun morning. We do love our neighbors :)