So, a post that has nothing to do with Liam or 'roids! I am interested in your opinions on your neighbors. Are you friends with them? Merely acquaintances? Do you pretend you don't see them when you're outside together? I live in a new subdivision that is slowly but surely filling up with houses. Most of the occupants are youngish couples, most with no kids. Several of these couples have lived in the 'hood about the same timeframe we have, about 3 years. So during the majority of that 3 years, we were all younger couples with no kids. Yet, we really don't know them, despite having had this in common. We are out walking our dogs every single day along the same route. We consider ourselves friendly enough people, and try to go out of our way to say hi, make eye contact, etc. Yet, things just don't really seem to progress beyond that. What is the etiquette when you are no longer a kid? "Hi, I'm Jen, wanna be my friend?!" D and I get mildly jealous if we notice some of the neighbors seem to have become friendly with one another but not with us.
But then our friend Angie, the one who is married to D's best friend and just moved in next door, was talking about this. She was wondering what the "rules" for living in a cul-de-sac are. Do you have to say hi every time to them? Take cookies over and introduce herself? Etc. She then went on to say that while she hopes all the neighbors are nice (they just moved a few weeks ago), she doesn't really feel like going through the whole "so what do you do?" small talk, blah blah blah. I realized that is exactly how I feel! While being friends with the neighbors SOUNDS like a great idea....barbecues! parties! doggie play dates! What I REALLY want, is just to pretend I don't see them and go about my business! I don't want to make small talk about the weather, their lawn, etc. Hmmm.....sounds rather un-sociable of me! Perhaps this is the reason why I am still merely acquaintances with these people! Maybe they can sense my *real* nature. Or maybe they just want to go about their business also. I mean, who doesn't just want to collapse on their couch and check Facebook after work??!!
5 comments:
I love this post! Probably because I can relate to it pretty well.
We moved here 3 years ago and we live on a cul-de-sac too. Our neighborhood is a little different though, filled with older couples who are nearing retirement age. In the 3 years we've lived here, I've never talked to the neighbor on the left but occasionally speak to the neighbor on the right. The one across the street is a PITA though. She's a retired teacher and she's the town busy-body. I can't pull into my garage without her bounding over and up my driveway to tell me whatever the street gossip is for the week. Yesterday she brought over a gift for Kaitlin and told me she was disappointed that she wasn't invited to the shower. WTF? She's a 60 yr. old woman and I have NO interest in being friends with her! Plus, she was pretty insulting when I was going through IVF and IF - so yeah, so not happening.
I guess I'm more of the "keep to myself" kind of person. Yes, it would be nice to have 1 or 2 couples with kids that we could befriend, but maybe not right on my street ... maybe like 2 streets over, LOL. I don't need anyone all up in my business.
It's really a mixed bag for me. I live in an adorable craftsman bungalow homes community with tree lined streets, cute sidewalks, etc. It is very Wisteria Lane*ish if you watch Desperate Housewives. I am fortunate enough to love both neighbors on each side of me ALTHOUGH there are days I look like crap (b/c I work from home and don't always feel the need to fix my hair or wear makeup) and yet I always see them on those days. That really gets old but the good by far outweighs the bad ie fresh tomatoes from our neighbors on the left - and our neighbors on the right - well we both have keys to each others houses so we can enter if there is a problem (and there has been for each of us)so that has been some great peace of mind. There are other neighbors that I'm very friendly with (dinners, etc) and others that I'm cordial with simply b/c they are so very much into gossip. I will say that we have a block party annually to allow everyone to get together and meet. We also have other activities like trivia night, etc. All in all we love it which is a suprise b/c we are a lot like you...meaning just leave us alone and we're great! :) Good luck with it. The way I see it...you have a people magnet with your precious son!
I always wished we were close with our neighbors. I live in a townhouse complex so we are close to each other. On one side we know them sorta - as in I don't know their names, but whenever we are outside together we say hello and make small talk. On the other side are two college kids we barely ever see or talk too. One more house down is a couple with two young kids that we say hello too, but not much. We seem to talk more during the winter when there is a big snow storm and we are all out shoveling.
Hahaha, I totally know how you feel! I pretty much ignore my neighbors. In our case, they are all a lot older, and we didn't really make a big effort to get to know them when we moved in (5 years ago) and now it seems weird. The same thing with the other dog walkers on my normal route -- I say hi, and I know the dogs by name... but the people? Not so much.
In general, though, I'm ok with this. I almost always prefer to just keep to myself when I'm taking out the trash or walking my dog. But once in awhile it would be nice to know someone by name!
I'm totally late on this but...
We live in a nice neighborhood, family type, but they are all older than us with the esception of the ones across the street (but they have kids). If they didn't have kids we prob would have been friends w/ us but when we moved in they moved in the exact same time across the street and she was very prego and I was in the midst of IF so I was not interested in being friends. But we've said hi and she borrowed a shovel or something from F and said we should do dinner sometime but that was 2 yrs ago, lol. We're friendly w/ both neighbors on the right and left of us. Mainly b/c they have dogs and they LOVE Milo. That's prob why the neighborhood likes us, almost everyone has a dog so we fit in and Milo's so cute. Anyways, a couple yrs ago F cut part of his thumb off in a plumbing accident and the neighbor saw me mowing the grass and I told him what happened and then all the sudden I see him edging and trimming our lawn! It was so sweet! He edged the whole 2-3 months that F was out and all I had to do was mow. We had only lived there a couple months at that time so I was really shocked they were so nice. I made them banana bread and took it over. That's my story! Sorry so long!
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