We've had our share of pretty good neighbors over the years, particularly now when our across the street neighbors are rescuing us (okay, me) on a regular basis by closing the garage door when we've gone off and left it open, to letting the dog in and out, and much, much more. (I'll let you in on more later, say, around Thanksgiving.)
But, probably the neighbors who put up with us most lived next door when we lived in Willow Creek in Oklahoma City. We've had nodding-acquaintance-neighbors, hold-a-garage-sale-together-neighbors, even share-the-lawn-mower-neighbors, but Robert and Linda were key-swapping neighbors and beyond.
When Jake was a teen-ager and came home to what he thought might have been a break-in he went to their house and Robert went back over and went through the house with him. When a guy has dodged the empty Christmas boxes, and Easter baskets, and wrapping paper flying out of your closets at him without calling that Hoarder's Hotline, you know he's a real friend. When Robert was out of town and water started spewing all over the kitchen floor at their house Dennis returned the favor by dashing madly (yeah, this was a long time ago) through their house looking under all the sinks to find the shut-off valve. It was in a closet, I think. I didn't hear if he got hit in the head with anything falling on him when he opened the door.
They were in our Sunday School class and when Robert received a pair of old bowling balls (they were wrapped beautifully, the package the biggest, the heaviest, who could resist it?) in a gift swap at our class Christmas party he used them as Yuletide decorations on his lawn, then spent the next month turning them into lamps which he presented to me for my birthday. Such a sacrificial giver!
Oddly enough, our dish patterns and even some of our linen patterns were the same, so it was like having access to twice as much party ware when we needed extra. Linda's beautiful crystal serving platters held chocolate-covered strawberries and little cheesecakes on our dining room table when we had Jake and Robyn's engagement party at our house. And the Tool Time wedding shower (HooYa!) for Jake was held at Robert and Linda's.
After Robert and Linda started working in the Youth Department at church they often had crowds at their house which spilled over into the shared yard between us and sometimes we would come home to find mysterious pans of lasagna in our oven, or big pots of chili simmering on the stove when Linda's kitchen was full and the kids were coming over. Most of the time we resisted sampling. Really, we did. Mostly.
I promise I didn't send her over on purpose but after they moved in we didn't spend nearly as much on dog food. Come to find out our dog, Roxie, was making regular forays to their house for her daily treat. Linda bought dog biscuits for her even though they didn't have a dog. Jake's puppy even made his home on their porch a few times. He seemed to think that Robert's shoes were a tree trunk. Or a fire hydrant. Or something.
Of course we didn't take advantage of having their key or anything. Well, maybe except for the time we had a gas leak at our house and the gas company shut off the gas for almost a week and we had no hot water, so they did wind up feeding us several times and we trekked across the yards, dragging our towels and shampoo like kids in a college dorm, and took our showers at Robert and Linda's. And, oh yeah, when we finally were moving away from our beloved neighborhood, I let myself in and went to sleep on their couch while the movers were hauling things to the truck. Robert had already left for work and Linda was still in bed but she didn't bat an eyelash when she came out and found me there, just headed to the kitchen to fix us some breakfast.
When Jake was moving into an apartment at college and someone told me boxes from liquor stores were the best for moving I collected a lot (I went to the stores and asked! I didn't save them up from our personal usage. I did not!) and was storing them in our garage. I decided I'd better let Linda in on what was going on since they were fellow church members and Linda is a well-respected Bible teacher. I didn't want her to see the garage door up and think "Aha! The lushes next door have finally let out their little secret!"
"Oh, don't worry about it," she said. "I know looks are deceiving. When we first moved here I was looking for a present for Cassidy and went into Christy's Toy Box (note from Pat: an infamous "Adult" store in Oklahoma) to see if they had anything. Well, it said 'TOY Box'! Then I had to stay in there for an hour because I was afraid someone would drive by and see me coming out."
It's no wonder that we got along so great. Not that I ever do anything as embarrassing as that. Usually. Well, okay, there is a little store here in Broken Arrow called "Sassy's" (the same people that own Christy's may own it) They don't have manicures for little girls there even if you are only looking for a gift certificate for your granddaughter. I'm going to have to find a neighbor here who will come rescue me from there.
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