Love Thy Neighbor

Before moving into our current apartment we were given the choice of two apartments. One location was centrally located. The other location was near the pool. We decided to move into the apartment by the pool, as we imagined many pool adventures with Sarah.

While moving in we were greeted by our neighbors. Across from us were two elementary school aged girls and above us lived a tween girl. All of which were very friendly.

Then summer came around and oh boy was our street the busiest street ever! It felt like all of the neighborhood kids chose our street to play on. Between riding their bikes to sports equipment all over the street to the sounds of slamming doors, these kids were out really late! Since my not yet one year old was going to sleep much earlier then the rest of the kids on the block, the noise became bothersome.

I get it, it’s summer, and a 7/7:30 pm bed time was too early for the kids on my block.

I decided to approach the mom (who was never around to begin with) that lived across from us. Since her kids were making most of the noise, I decided I would just share what was going on. Surprisingly she agreed that the kids were loud and asked them to move to another location.

With our windows closed and thin apartment buildings walls we still heard a lot of noise. The most annoying part was the slamming of doors. Those were the noises that would startle Sarah from her sleep.

That was one long summer! Even though the kids moved a bit further we could still hear them play outside. They were just a noisy bunch.

Then fall came and it started to get darker in the evenings. The kids didn’t seem to play for hours outside like they did in the summer. We finally got some peace. However the slamming of doors continued.

In the meantime a new neighbor moved in.

Another girl joined our quad. That makes 5 girls, ages ranging from 1-12. We all got along really well. We would pet sit for one another, share recipes, even borrow eggs when we were all out. All in all it was nice living around such nice people.

Then we  learned that our new neighbor was of the same faith, so we had her and her daughter, Mandy over a few times for Shabbat dinners.

Our new neighbor’s daughter was very friendly.

So friendly that Mandy would come knocking on our door a few times a week to play with Sarah. It was really sweet, but odd that this 5 year old girl wanted to play with a 1 year old. It became quite a routine. Everyday, she would come home from school, drop off her things upstairs, come running down the stairs and knock on our door. Most days I waited for her to come knocking on our door as I would cooking while the girls played. It was really sweet to watch them play. Mandy made Sarah giggle.

Then one day out of the blue, a moving truck appeared. The girls across from us were moving out.

Our quad was very happy! They were a bothersome to all of us. Their parents were not as involved and the girls were a bit pushy with our younger kids.

Then a month later Mandy and her mom moved out. After our goodbyes, Mandy dropped off a bear on our doorstep. It said, “I will miss you neighbor.” How sweet of her!

We really enjoyed our relationship with Mandy and her mom.

Then a few weeks go by and both apartments were moved into. After only 2 weeks both renters moved out. It was very odd!

Finally after a few more weeks the neighbors across from us moved in. A nice Korean family with a five and half year old boy moved in . Sarah likes Hajun. They play outside almost every night. They love drawing with chalk on the sidewalk.

It’s great having such nice neighbors.

Here they are playing inside on a hot afternoon.

photoHave a crazy neighbor story you’d like to share? Please comment below.

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Stacee Anderson Baker

I love reading your stories! :) You should write a book! I’d buy it!

aline

in every house i lived i had some strange neighbors. there is always – always – these neighbor who are slamming doors. and it is at all ages. doesn’t people think that there is a way to close a door without slamming her?

[…] for an event. We’ve attended pool parties, BBQs and now a movie. It’s really nice getting to know our neighbors on a more intimate level then the usual wave by the mail […]

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