NEIGHBORS - THEN & NOW

I know I'm getting older...but neighbors were sure different when I was a kid.  True, we didn't have cable television or personal computers or video games, and we played outside a lot back then...so the neighbors were extensions of your parents.  If you did something wrong down the street, someone was sure to tell your parents.

We knew all of our neighbors back then.  One of our next door neighbors was also one of the substitute teachers at my elementary school and I loved her and her husband dearly.  They would have done anything for our family and vice versa.  Another neighbor - an elderly woman - never forgot my birthday and always made me a cake and a homemade craft.  Another neighbor worked for a local dairy and brought home chocolate milk for me now and then.

We played up and down the street, in everybody's front yard and a few backyards.  Times were so different then, but I still had to tell my parents where I was going to be and who I was going to be with.

We played at my house a lot, too.  Our fridge was always stocked with Cokes and Barq's.  And being an only child (for the most part - long story for another day!), I had lots of toys and games.

Now, things are very different.  I know almost none of my neighbors.  I know the names of very few. Most are just people to wave or say, "Hi," to as we pass.  Our family spends most of our time in the house with the TV's, computers and video games.  My kids are teenagers and don't play outside like when they were younger.  Even then, there were very few places in the neighborhood they were allowed to go. 

I'm not saying that not being acquainted with the neighbors is ALL bad.  I am a fairly private person.  I don't want to know all the details of my neighbors' family life, and I prefer they not know mine.  Unlike in the "olden days," I don't have time to hang out in my neighbor's kitchen drinking coffee.  And my kitchen isn't usually clean enough to have unexpected guests!

We have had our share of crazy neighbors....  There was one who lived next door and threatened to put antifreeze out for my poor goofy dog to drink.  Lovely.  There is the neighbor who basically stalks my husband in order to share all of his problems with him.  Fun.  There have been neighbors with very small children who ran wild - the parents didn't know - or seem to care - where the kids were or what they were doing.  Really?  There were the neighbors with pets who ran wild.  Sometimes the animals are easier to deal with the the kids.

Yes, I have some friends who have great neighbors who they are good friends with.  They may have dinner at each other's homes or meet at the subdivision pool and visit while their kids swim.  That is great!  I think it's awesome to have that kind of "neighborly" situation.  Maybe I'm just not as "neighborly" as my parents were.  And that's okay....