It usually begins with a text, something like “Did you know your garage door is open?” or “It’s 9:00 PM and your inner game room door is open.” Shortly thereafter, the sender observes the garage door going down or the inner door being closed and that is followed a few minutes later by a thank you text from the receiver. The text sometimes opens up a brief exchange catching up between neighbors. It ends with all parties feeling a sense of comfort and security all are safely tucked in for the night.

Though I mostly have been the sender in recent times, truth be told, I have been on the receiving end more times than I can remember in the 45+ years I have lived here. We watch out for one another in this neighborhood — it has been this way since the day I moved in and I truly feel forever blessed! We aren’t “nebby.” We give each other space and privacy, but we care … we observe … we support … we take care … we are always there for one another.

We are there to care for pets, plants, houses, mail and newspapers when you go on vacation. We have been known to close garage doors when you leave them open on your way to work or vacation. We are there to lend our ovens when yours breaks down or you are spending time at a hospital with a loved one during the holidays. We hold your hand and cry with you when you deal with life’s challenges. We lend our ears when you need someone to listen. We mourn with you when tragedy or terminal illness or death strike. We get up in the middle of a winter’s night to take you to the hospital for surgery. We transport you to work, to school, to church, to medical appointments, to the mall, to the beauty or barber shop when your car breaks down or you don’t own a driver’s license. We help you track down misdelivered packages. We run to your house when the ambulance pulls up. We help you pick up an elderly relative when they fall. We form a loving circle to protect, as best we can, a neighbor with progressing Alzheimer’s until the family can relocate her to a caring and safe facility.

We rescue your empty garbage can rolling down the street courtesy of the power of nature’s winds. We shovel or snow blow your driveway when you are sick, physically unable or just to be nice, saving a tired neighbor a daunting task at the end of a long day at work. We pick up your newspaper and carefully walk it to your door saving your coming out into winter’s brutal chill. We knock on your door with surprising sweet treats or a hot meal or homemade macaroni salad as a thank you for your kindness, support and many favors over the years. We come to the rescue of widows when water heaters go, when furnaces shut down, when light bulbs need changed and we can reach those high ones easier than you, when something needs assembled or repaired or a too heavy object needs to be carried from one floor to another. We check on each other during power outages or gas line repairs or Covid-19 homebound times.

We celebrate your weddings, births, graduations, landmark birthdays, cancer survivals, promotions and house or garden remodeling. We relax and chat over coffee, over hedges, at Christmas gatherings and on patios. We cook, play games and square dance at block parties. We take pictures of your kids on Halloween and are delighted to take pictures of your grandchildren many years later.

We welcome you when you move in and cry when you move out, regardless of whether it’s just a few streets away or clear across the country. And, after you move, whenever or wherever we run into you, whether in person or on Facebook, we will call you neighbor. Because, here on iola, once a neighbor, always a neighbor!

I have been the recipient of so many of the above blessings and am forever grateful to have come to this neighborhood all those decades ago. So, to all my iola neighbors, past and present, I send you a great big thank you and a huge virtual hug!

Peace,
Kathy Marie