neighbors

"Good fences make good neighbors."

~Robert Frost

Sam and I just bought a new house. We haven't signed the papers yet but it's ours and we'll be moving in at the end of the summer. We drove over today to just walk around the backyard again and peek in the windows. It has been vacant for a few years. As we were heading back to the car, Sam saw a neighbor out trimming the bushes in his yard and he went over to introduce himself. Sam is really good about that stuff. I would have just pretended that I didn't see him and then waved to him as I drove away. Meeting new people is not high on my list of things I enjoy but thankfully God gave me Sam who doesn't mind that sort of thing at all.
I walked over to meet our new neighbor, trying to be friendly. He was an older gentleman, maybe in his late 60's, early 70's. He shook my hand but never told me his name which didn't surprise me. I'm not sure if that says more about me or about him. But in the course of our short conversation he managed to ask us what we paid for the house, inform us that he and the neighbor on the other side took care of the lawn for two years when the previous owners turned the keys into the bank, and tell us that we would need to stain the siding and that he usually does his every five years.
Sam took it in stride. He just assumes that older people are going to speak their minds and it isn't something to be upset over. I did not take it in stride. I immediately started second guessing our purchase. I was imagining myself getting out of the van and being accosted by any number of neighbors demanding that we mow the lawn more than once a week. And who knows what they will think when we install a play set or let our boys run around on the front lawn.
I want to be a good neighbor. I don't want to move into the neighborhood and have people think that we are making it look trashy or that we are too noisy. But I also don't want people to tell me how to take care of my house, no matter how subtly they try to do it. I must confess that it made me want to run out and buy all sorts of hideous lawn ornaments and just fill the front yard with them.

photo by: keeve999   http://www.flickr.com/photos/54159370@N08/7311216028/