Over a decade ago, we had arrived in this neighborhood.
Extra chirpy and jovial, you could blame it on our age or just the fact that we wanted to be friendly.
Our neighbors were also equally eager to wear a smile now and then.
Such was life!
While settling in, we would occasionally see a pair of eyes poking our backs, we would turn around to see nobody.
Strange!
But, that feeling would last only for a fraction of second, and we would continue to mingle, meld, interweave in the customs of our neighbors coming from ethnic backgrounds, just as they were embracing us from our background.
We were so new to the house and its settings, that I remember we were instructed by our realtor on how to operate things such as opening/closing the garage, operating the sprinklers, landscape lights, and many other internal things. Thus, leaving us exhausted!
Few months went down, and we noticed a tree in our front yard, blocking sunlight. Since we were still pre-occupied handling the operations within the home, we hired a professional tree trimer to do the job.
He came in on the scheduled time and day, and started the work.
We were standing outside whilst waving a hellos to our neighbors.
Just then a car came to a screeching halt on our drive-way, and that made us short of breath. This kind of car on our property, is a total no-no, and it gave us even more curiosity when the person dressed as a cop stepped out of the car.
We were startled, when he asked us if we were the owners of this house?
To which, we immediately nodded our heads.
He took out his small notepad, and started jotting down our names, which was quite an effort to announce from our end.
"Do you have a permit to trim this tree?" he came to the point
"Permit? Why" was my better half's response
"We own the property, then why the permit?" he clarified while still curious.
"Well, any tree on the sidewalk is the city's property, and you need a permit for that." he said while jotting down something on his scratch pad.
Just then we saw an elderly man walking towards our house. We had never seen him before, but those eyes, had a striking resemblance. I kept staring at them.
He agreed with what the cop had to say about the permit, and went about taking his side. We were taken aback by his attitude and felt quite unhappy.
Days rolled by, and we learnt that it was that neighbor who had called the cop!
Made me realize that when it comes to my neighbors, not all can be friendly even though you flash out your pearly whites that have been just bleached by those whitening strips.
It makes no impact on them!
Today, each morning as we continue to live in this neighborhood, we are enjoying the many smiles and waves and also those pair of eyes that keep a keen eye on our movements.
Mantra for today: You cannot choose your neighbors, so why fret!
------
FTSF is here. Today's sentence is, "When it comes to my neighbors"
Join in the FUN
Extra chirpy and jovial, you could blame it on our age or just the fact that we wanted to be friendly.
Our neighbors were also equally eager to wear a smile now and then.
Such was life!
While settling in, we would occasionally see a pair of eyes poking our backs, we would turn around to see nobody.
Strange!
But, that feeling would last only for a fraction of second, and we would continue to mingle, meld, interweave in the customs of our neighbors coming from ethnic backgrounds, just as they were embracing us from our background.
We were so new to the house and its settings, that I remember we were instructed by our realtor on how to operate things such as opening/closing the garage, operating the sprinklers, landscape lights, and many other internal things. Thus, leaving us exhausted!
Few months went down, and we noticed a tree in our front yard, blocking sunlight. Since we were still pre-occupied handling the operations within the home, we hired a professional tree trimer to do the job.
He came in on the scheduled time and day, and started the work.
We were standing outside whilst waving a hellos to our neighbors.
Just then a car came to a screeching halt on our drive-way, and that made us short of breath. This kind of car on our property, is a total no-no, and it gave us even more curiosity when the person dressed as a cop stepped out of the car.
We were startled, when he asked us if we were the owners of this house?
To which, we immediately nodded our heads.
He took out his small notepad, and started jotting down our names, which was quite an effort to announce from our end.
"Do you have a permit to trim this tree?" he came to the point
"Permit? Why" was my better half's response
"We own the property, then why the permit?" he clarified while still curious.
"Well, any tree on the sidewalk is the city's property, and you need a permit for that." he said while jotting down something on his scratch pad.
Just then we saw an elderly man walking towards our house. We had never seen him before, but those eyes, had a striking resemblance. I kept staring at them.
He agreed with what the cop had to say about the permit, and went about taking his side. We were taken aback by his attitude and felt quite unhappy.
Days rolled by, and we learnt that it was that neighbor who had called the cop!
Made me realize that when it comes to my neighbors, not all can be friendly even though you flash out your pearly whites that have been just bleached by those whitening strips.
It makes no impact on them!
Today, each morning as we continue to live in this neighborhood, we are enjoying the many smiles and waves and also those pair of eyes that keep a keen eye on our movements.
Mantra for today: You cannot choose your neighbors, so why fret!
------
FTSF is here. Today's sentence is, "When it comes to my neighbors"
Join in the FUN
