Neighbor (Five Minute Friday)

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Your neighbor may be the anchor in your neighborhood. When we lived in our little house, our first house as a married couple, we had neighbors who we considered an anchor. This couple was in their eighties and could tell us about when the big church across the street was built and what a mess the cutting of the stones made in the form of excess dust in their homes. This couple took excellent care of their home and yard. They cared about what happened to the neighborhood. When the house we ended up buying went on the market, they made sure their new next door neighbors would be a good fit for the neighborhood by introducing themselves to anyone who came to see the house. We thought they were so friendly and just an adorable old couple. He was tall and thin, she was less than five foot tall and not thin, but not fat either. They made such a cute couple. They had been married for over sixty years and were obviously completely devoted to each other.

They made us want to do a good job taking care of our yard so it would look good next to theirs. We loved chatting over the fence with them. They had friends over all the time and spent a lot of time on their screened-in carport. When it snowed, Orville would get out his snow blower and clear his driveway. Then he would do the one on the other side of us because she was an older single lady, her parents had been friends of theirs. If he still had enough energy when he was done with both those driveways, he would often clear ours too because he knew we were busy working and raising the kids. He was just that kind of neighbor. His wife, Opal, would share starts of her plants and freely give advice if asked on how to take care of various garden plants. It seemed they had lived in their home well over fifty years and had watched with interest as many of the houses nearby were built. Some might call them nosy neighbors, but we thought of them as protective of their home and those nearby. We felt safe knowing they were on duty watching over the goings on around their home. When they grew older, Opal was the first to go. Orville was never quite the same after she died. He seemed sadder and moved slower. Not long after, Orville also passed away and the house went on the market. The new owners planned to rent it out, what a shame. The neighborhood was never the same once these wonderful anchors were gone.

Are you an anchor in your neighborhood?

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Neighbor
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

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