NEIGHBORS!

I'll be commenting on neighbors in a couple of seconds. .  but first. . . .

Dear Chad II,

OMG. . . I can't believe I saw ANOTHER thing that you would have loved!  Tonight at the theater (are we detecting a theme here?) was the first one man show at Chautauqua (cleverly entitled: Chau-Talk-One) by actor Michael Gaston.  He's a character actor who, as he puts it, usually plays cops.  He's been on alot of television cop shows, and the show he did tonight was based on a small part he had in the Leonardo DiCaprio/Russell Crowe movie: Body of Lies.  So, he worked on that movie about 6 hours, and yet he was invited to appear on behalf of the movie at the Middle East Film Festival in Abu Dhabi.  He figured the rest of the cast would be there, but when he got there, he was the only representative, and he had to give the introductory speech. . . . about a film dealing with the U.S. war on terrorism. . . .at a film festival in the United Arab Emerates.   The show was him telling the story of that experience and he was absolutely hysterical.  You would have laughed your butt off.    I wish you had been there. . . again.     I'm sure you would have not been nearly as enamoured with the Widor Organ Symphony #6 at the orchestra concert afterwards, but it was wonderful too!    Now go about what it was you were doing. . . .Love, MOM

And now back to our regularly scheduled blog:

NEIGHBORS!

I have always wanted neighbors.   Not just people who lived next door, but INTERACTING people who live next door.   I can't remember a time when I really knew my close-by neighbors other than to wave or have quick conversation with.  In my fantasy world, I wanted to live somewhere where I was good friends with my neighbors, and we spontaneously gathered at each other's houses and shared a glass of iced tea and shot the breeze for awhile.   It has never happened.   I think this is true of many people.  They just don't know their neighbors.    And then when I retired,  I decided to settle in the country.   I have great friends in Afton, Va.  but no close-by neighbors.  The one person who was a close-by neighbor was someone I preferred not to spend time with.  

So here I am. . .my first full season at Chautauqua. . . and I finally have my wish!   It's taken the better part of 5 weeks to break the ice, but I'm really enjoying my immediate neighbors. . . .Barbara who lives in the aparment to my right, and Susan who lives in the apartment to my left.  Since I'm in the middle of the three apartments, in a house that wraps around a corner,  I can see Barbara on her porch from my porch, and I can see Susan the other way.  But they can't see each other.  Nevertheless, we congregate nearly every day for laughing, comparing concert experiences, sharing a glass of wine or reactions to a play.   And with my central location, nearly everyone I know passes by here at some point during the week.  And often I can ask them to sit on my porch and have a cold drink or a quick conversation.

I was dressed to go to the gym this morning, but I got delayed because Barb and I had decided last night to trade chairs that we had in our apartments.   So this morning I was hauling my rocker out on to the porch, and she was hauling a green chair, and we traded.   I love my new chair, and she loves hers.  Neighbors!

I have a regular Sunday-night-after-the-Sacred-Song-Service group that comes over for wine.   And tomorrow is the choir party and I'm driving two of my friends to the home of the hostess.   We'll each take our "covered dish."   

Neighbors, it turns out, are just as wonderful as I had ever imagined.  And though I will still live in the country for the rest of the year, and have to get in the car and drive to see my best friends,  when I come up here each year, I'll be living in that wonderful land of neighbors.     A tip of the hat to Mr. Rogers, who was right!