We live on a relatively quiet dead-end street. We know quite a few of our neighbors and like most all of them. That wasn't always the case.
One of my neighbors recently asked me if I remembered my former next-door neighbor, "Crazy Sarah." Do I remember? Oh, do I! She is the one who was calling the cops over to her house at least once a week. She also called Child Services on us for neglecting our five children and for running a meth lab--this before we even had kids! At first it was funny, in a ridiculous sort of way. Then I started to get scared about what might happen if we did have kids and she kept making these absurd accusations. Fortunately, her family had Sarah committed in Alabama, and the family that bought her house have turned out to be great neighbors.
We also had a few run-ins with the neighbor on the other side of Sarah. They looked at us as being a little trashy (so maybe we are, a little). They owned the nicest house on the block and were bothered that the rest of the neighborhood didn't have the time and finances to maintain as perfectly groomed a lawn as they did. They also didn't like where we stored our garbage can outside, and they were sure that we were the reason they couldn't sell their house (not that the economy or their high asking price were the problem...). The husband tried to pressure Brett into making certain changes, which only caused Brett to want to go out of his way to annoy this neighbor. We managed to solve that problem by having Brett's brother move here from Virginia and buy the house.
Since our "problem-neighbors" have been taken care of, our family has been free to enjoy our good and peaceful street. So, who are the people in my neighborhood? Let me tell you.
First of all, did I mention that Brett's brother lives two doors down, compete with one of my favorite sisters-in-law and two nieces the perfect age for babysitting? And, they have a Wii (big attraction with my boys).
Brett's parents also live just a one-minute walk away, across the fairway. My boys have three loving homes that they can hop back and forth between.
Although she doesn't live on our street, Oma and Papa's neighbor Missy Hall has been a dear family friend for years. She doesn't have grandchildren of her own and absolutely loves the Wendel boys and Wendel girls.
We have some older folks on our street and we are so fortunate that they are not of the "old and crotchety" variety. Karl and Helen are the sweetest old couple, about eighty years old. They walk together every day down the street and back home along the golf course. Karl loved our dog Sandy, and Sandy loved him. Karl literally shed a few tears on our behalf a year ago when he heard the news that she passed away. Now that Copper has calmed down (and is less likely to knock them over) Brett always encourages Copper to go say hi when they pass by our house. Karl and Helen are always so kind, and tell me what a beautiful mother I am. Who doesn't like to hear that?
Peggy and Betsy are also sweet older ladies. Peggy, a widow who lives with her son across from me, and Betsy, who lives with her husband down the street, have been neighborhood friends for years. They walk together most every morning and hit the garage sales together most every Saturday. I admire Betsy who carries a little plastic sack to pick up any trash she comes across while walking down the street. And the boys love Peggy's little white fluffy dog, Darlin'. The boys also love Peggy's climbing tree in her front side yard.
Deede, another neighbor across the street is a lot of fun. She goes all-out decorating for Christmas. I love seeing her lights from my house. She invites the whole neighborhood to her annual Christmas party, which is always a lot of fun. My boys immediately gravitate to her garage where they know the air hockey competitions are held. The boys also love her inflatable Frankenstein-type character that she sets up at Halloween. The first year Deede set it up Sandy growled at it for days. For a while my boys couldn't remember Deede's name and called her the lady at Mr. Bones' house. (I have no idea how they came up with the name "Mr. Bones," as it doesn't really fit his description.) Now we look forward to seeing Mr. Bones, and now the boys know Deede's name. Deede has two teenage sons who are relatively close in age. It has been interesting and a little funny to watch them over the past few years and think about all we have to look forward to as the parents of older boys who might occasionally get into a little mischief.
We always like to stop and say hi to Vicky as she walks her big collie, Nicki. Some time ago Nicki kept escaping through the fence of her backyard and always stopped by our house first. The fence finally had to be replaced, and we have missed her surprise visits to our house. Ryan would get so excited: "MOM! Nicki's here!"
We have another Hall family living a few doors down. We became acquainted with them through our dogs. Their dog Bailey occasionally runs over to greet us and our dogs. And Sandy got into the habit of disappearing every afternoon for a half hour or so. One day the Halls mentioned to us that Sandy came to their back door every afternoon for a little dog treat. When Sandy showed up all of the dogs (they have two or three) would line up waiting their turn.
I enjoyed getting to know Shari last year at the bus stop. It is nice to have somebody to wait with there each morning. Shari often comes still in her pajamas, and I often come looking grubby in my own way--unshowered, crazy hair, no makeup, etc. How nice to have neighbors who don't care what I look like! I have also enjoyed getting to know her daughter Erin, who is now one of my piano students.
I have also been especially grateful for our next-door neighbors--the ones who moved into Crazy Sarah's house. They had a little boy two months after I had Ryan. Their son Logan has become good friends with my boys and it has been so nice seeing the boys play together. My boys always spend more time outside playing with Logan than they would on their own. Logan feels comfortable at our house and walks right in looking for Todd and Ryan. My boys feel equally comfortable at Logan's house and climb right over the fence into their back yard. (We actually wanted them to climb the fence rather than use the gate because one of the three would inevitably let one of their dogs out.)
I think Logan looks at Todd and Ryan the same way he would his own cousins. In fact, he calls our Oma "Oma", and our Uncle Mark "Uncle Mark" and my boys call his Poppy "Poppy" and his Grammy "Grammy." Logan has joined us in decorating our Christmas tree and carving our jack-o-lantern.
The boys have fun dressing up and playing Indiana Jones, Clone Troopers, pirates, and more. They grab their swords, light sabers, or guns and go off to defend the world.
Logan has three boy cousins who are relatively close in age to our boys. The six boys had a good time playing together, running, hiding, chasing, and generally being boys. Brett quickly gave them the nickname of "The Posse." As in, when The Posse's together there's no playing in the house. Outside play only.
As I mentioned before, my boys don't have the same amount of free roam that I had growing up. However, between our house, Logan's house, Uncle Mark's house, Oma's house, cousins, neighbors that are almost family, a few trees to climb, and plenty of space to run around in--I think we are quite blessed.
The Posse:
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