I was in for quite the shock yesterday. My brother and a few friends came over to celebrate Cinco De Mayo. We were planning to go hot tubbing, cook dinner and end the night by watching The Avengers. (I was on a Marvel kick this weekend, we saw Iron Man 3 which of course, made us watch Thor and then it was a MUST to watch The Avengers). By the way, hot tub - dinner - movie - that is a perfect night for me. Best Sunday night I've had in a really long time!
I live in a town home and we have a community pool and hot tub. It's a pretty small neighborhood, so usually when you go down there you're alone or there is one other "group" like a family or a couple. The hot tub is one street down and we could tell there was a party with loud music and drunken laughter. Some people might have turned around, but I really love these social situations. Every one is always is so nice and is living by the motto "the more the merrier". Even if it's just for the one night.
There were 5 people from our group plus another 10 people gathered around in our little hot tub. Unlike normal this was not one group but 5 small groups. There were 2 young boys (15-ish), an Army dad and his daughter, a single man (the neighbor with all the bird feeders), a young single woman (the lady next door), 2 brothers (the partiers on the block), then one other couple (whom I have no identifier for).
All of these people had lived in their houses for between 2 - 7 years. Jared and I have lived in our home for 4 years and we have NEVER met any of these people. Isn't that terrible? I hate that. I wish I knew every single one of my neighbors. Before last night I only knew 2 people in the community. My next door neighbor and the guy who walks his dog late. I don't even know the dog walkers name. My next door neighbor is Laurel. She's an old woman and is in love with Indiana. She is the sweetest old woman, and always has her grandkids with her. I think that's a fun part about owning your home. You know you'll be there for a while, so you can settle in and get to know people because they'll be around for a while too. We met the young single woman who lives next door on the other side last night and I was so happy to finally meet her! I have seen her almost every day for the past few YEARS but had never introduced myself, so now we'll be BFF's. Yes, I have high hopes for all my neighbor friendships.
Turns out my neighbors are a bunch of party animals and I really like that about them! Jared and I are a young couple and we like staying out late and socializing - so it's cool to know that our neighbors aren't bothered by that lifestyle. It's like we all have a secret identity. Quite and calm during the day and then a loud welcoming crew in the evening. It's awesome - I'm impressed with my new (old) neighbors. I already said "Hi" to one of my new found friends today. He was out on his porch when I was home on my lunch break and we had a small chit chat about my baby birds!
Oh yeah... I have 7 birds now. My triplets turned into seven-duplets! I decided they are not Robins they are Starlings. Does anyone have any information about starlings... I need to read up on these buggers.
(There is one hiding outside of the nest.)
Soo.... How well do you know your neighbors? Do you prefer to know them or not?
