Sunday, August 19, 2007

My Neighbors and Growing Up

My neighbors across the street have been married for more than 20 years and are somewhat retired. The man is a professor who is a skin cancer survivor. The woman is a mom of a grown son, who still lives with them but I never see him. They are good neighbors. They wave hello, know our names, more importantly they know our children's names. They keep their yard clean and are kind.

So, what's so special about them?

Each morning while I am getting ready for work, I hear a little something. Our bathroom has a window that faces the street and I get to hear people walking their dogs, runners out of breath from the hill, and my neighbors. In the early morning hours, what I hear from my neighbors is a car pulling out of the driveway. Then I hear the man's voice. It gets louder as the car pulls away. He is following the car out of the driveway, walking after it. He calls out "Drive safe" and "I love you". He does it EVERY morning as his wife drives away.

It melts my heart.

When I leave for work, I kiss my husband good-bye. His is still asleep at this time, as are my kids. My leaving is his wake up call I know. He grunts and murmurs when I leave. When I told him the story about the neighbors, he laughed at his grunts and murmurs, which are still loving, but in a different way.

I want to be my neighbor when I grow up . . . maybe tomorrow!

2 comments:

Sierra said...

Super cute neighbors! I like that my hubby always leaves with a kiss and "I love yous." I just wish that he would come home with them, but he's a cop and I can understand that he doesn't feel so lovey after dealing with what he deals with all day.
Maybe, I will start getting up early and making something for him to eat when he gets off his nightshift. At least he can come home to a lovey wife and know that he is wanted here.

NicciN said...

That is so sweet. Did you do anything today to try to get it?

I always want to connect with my husband when we get home. I want us to acknowledge each others presence, but often we just continue what we were doing. Maybe this is the motivation I need to be the change I want to see in the world. Maybe I should start stopping and taking a moment to acknowledge him when he comes home and let him know how much he means to me.