The neighbors are moving. They mentioned something about greener pastures; for their horses. I’ll miss their friendly hellos over the fence and, my gelding-who-thinks-he’s-a-stud, is totally gonna miss those mares. I really liked the new neighbors too, and wish I’d taken the time to bake them a pie when they moved in just a few short months ago.
I don’t have much of an excuse really. Every new neighbor deserves a pie or a bag of Oreo’s or something. My excuses get even weaker when you take into account that I live in one of those hobby farm developments where, even though I can’t shoot a varmint, I get to shovel manure and wake up to a rooster’s crow like the big boys (the “big boys” being the cattle and hay ranchers that surround us but don’t seem to mind our rabbit hutches all that much). After all, they can count on my goats and two horses to generate a steady one-and-a-half ton hay sale each year! Cha-Ching!
My country neighborhood even has an Annual Meeting where folks can connect and discuss important things like barking dogs and yard art. And for those of us who don’t own forty or a hundred or a thousand acres, this is important stuff! My favorite part of the meetings, however, is getting to know the new people; well that, and the platter of brownies.
Now more than ever seems like a really good time to actually know ones neighbors don’t you think? People are hurting and worried and some are unemployed. But any setback has the potential of turning into a comeback and kindheartedness from a neighbor can make all the difference in the world. The naysayers would have you believe that the gesture of a pie means you have to take on another person’s problems but don’t you believe it! Because a hand-shake over the fence or an offer to help unload a car-full of Costco is how communities form. And when someone feels like they’re part of a community they tend to want to stay; even when times are tough.
In her new book “I Love A Man In Uniform,” Lilly Burana says…”what intimidates us also instructs us and shows us, in part, who we’d like to be…” So call me old-fashioned. Call me a total nerd if you want to and I won’t deny it. I wore that blue and gold FFA jacket in high school with confidence and pride my friends. I lived through the teasing to reap the benefits of travel and speech writing, scholarships, trade missions and a Future Farmer husband too. Because I believe in another great saying; “rejecting things because they are old-fashioned would rule out the sun and the moon – and a mother’s love.”
So, yeah, the neighbors are moving and I hope they find what they’re looking for. But, as for me; I’m resolving to take a pie to whoever moves into the neighborhood next.
