Won't You Be My

 My husband spent the day cleaning up summer stuff and planting fall stuff in the back yard. I intended to spend the day walking in the sunshine and cleaning stuff in the house and baking, but all the book-moving and extra-working and parent-birthday-planning and busy-falling has caught up with me and I couldn't rouse myself to any of that. Instead I planted myself in the back-porch swinging chair with a book and a blanket. Lucy usually battles for space with the book, but today she figured out a way to co-exist with it.

We have a party to go too soon and I still feel a bit guilty (not quite the right word) for not going for a walk because we've had some truly crap weather lately and it's beautiful out today.

We have been so unutterably, unbelievably fortunate in our neighbours. When we moved in they had a little girl, and even though Angus wasn't born until a year later they had a ball together. Our second kids were daughters born seven days apart. Our dogs are sisters who come and call on each other.

I think often about what a gift this is. I've often said that if you have terrible neighbours, you should almost just move, because it's a huge impact on your quality of life. 

The morning after my 40th birthday party I woke up and couldn't find my shoes anywhere - until later in the day when I realized I'd left them on the front step next door at 4 a.m. The first sunny Saturday of the first Covid lockdown we sat in their backyard to have a glass of wine and went to bed at eight p.m. four bottles later, which was fine because it was too cold to stay outside by then. 

Happy Saturday. I promise not to drive home drunk. 

Comments

San said…
A back-porch swinging chair sounds divine! :)

I am so glad you lucked out with your neighbors. It really makes a huge difference. We have "nice" neighbors but we don't really hang out with them - they're quite a bit older than we are and there hasn't been much mingling.
Pat Birnie said…
Hahaha. Started with a glass of wine and went to home after 4 bottles! My kind of neighbours!
Jenny said…
Oh this is my kind of day! A back porch swinging chair with a book and a blanket... the walk can wait!
You REALLY lucked out with your neighbors. When we first moved into our house, 20 years ago, we had several sets of neighbors we really liked. OVer the years they've all moved away, to be replaced by... a bunch of weirdos. I mean they'r not scary or intrusive (so it could be worse) but not people we would want to socialize with. Sigh!
Neighbors can be so important. How amazing that you have scored some cool ones who became friends. So precious.
Elisabeth said…
This was so relevant; we're in the middle of a VERY challenging two-year situation with neighbours and are very much considering moving because of it. I had no idea how dramatically it could impact quality of life but it is NO JOKE!
Nicole said…
Awww, your neighbours are so great. My neighbour is my mother-in-law, which I feel like is the start to a really great joke. But, well, you know.
StephLove said…
It's a gift to have had such a long and close relationship with your neighbors. It sounds idyllic. We did not get along with the people who lived next door. We ended up in a legal battle about the use of our shared driveway, which I never blogged about just in case that would somehow impact the case. Anyway, they've moved! And the new people, who are probably moving in next month, seem nice, though in a somewhat different phase of life (4 elementary to high school boys). North is bummed the kids aren't younger because they would have liked to babysit.
ccr in MA said…
Sometimes one really needs to sit back and relax instead of Getting Things Done--good for you for doing it. And yes, great neighbors are an amazing thing to have!
Ernie said…
I'm glad to hear you are enjoying the day. I have had days when I've beaten myself up for not doing xyz, but in the end - do what makes you happy. Life is too short.

I've said it here before, total and utter neighbor envy. My folks moved around quite a bit when I was small and they always landed amazing neighbors. We have some really lousy neighbors. It never ceases to amaze me how one neighborhood can attract SO many knucklheads.

I have a neighbor story that happened a few years ago and I have yet to blog about it. I'm doing it soon, damn it. I gave this person a piece of my mind, but if people want to judge me for telling someone to go jump? Well, go for it.
NGS said…
We have lovely neighbors and I'm so grateful for them. I can only imagine how stressful it would be if they weren't so great. AHH!! Never change, neighborhood!
J said…
I'm laughing that you left your shoes at your neighbors' house. Those are my kind of neighbors for sure! We have some really good neighbors, and some less good, but none that we hang out with in that way, I'm sorry to say.
Sarah said…
Ugh— I want to move away from my next door neighbors.

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