Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Part 2

There was a knock at the front door.  It was about 5 pm and I had FINALLY gotten dinner going, the house picked up, and you boys settled into some games. The washer had broken that day so there were piles of laundry everywhere.  I had not gotten my grocery shopping done and there were dishes in the sink and bathrooms to clean.  My next door neighbor Nancy walked in with a plate of cheese and crackers and a bottle of wine.  I could have kissed her.

*****

Two year old Sam had sliced his hand badly on a piece of glass. Muscle, tendon, the whole works - it was bad.  We were sitting on the front steps, Sam in my lap whimpering, a cloth diaper held over his hand to staunch the bleeding, Jake leaning into me trying not to cry and me trying to stay calm for both of them.  Drew, at six weeks was lying on the living room floor.  As the ambulance pulled up and four paramedics approached my anxiety rose.  Sam needed to be in the emergency room and he needed to go now.   Just then my neighbor Frances walked up, gave me a hug and said “Go - I’ll take the baby with me.”  I could have kissed her.     

*****

I was pulling our 20 foot sailboat out from the side yard so you boys could clean it up.  It got hooked on the swing hanging from the giant walnut tree out front.  I heard a huge THUMP, jumped out of the car and there to my horror was a large branch draped over the boat.  My first impulse was to look to Nancy’s house to see if she was there.   She was looking out the window because she too had heard the noise.  I motioned for her like a madwoman to come downstairs and help.  I will never forget her calm approach as I was near hysteria.  She walked up to the boat and surveyed the damage and the branch and turned to me and said “We need a chainsaw.”  Then she went to her garage, pulled out a chain saw, revved it up and began to cut up the branch into pieces that we could handle.   I could have kissed her.

*****

It had been a long, exhausting day.  For whatever reason, I was in one of my emotional turmoils. Our neighbor Teresa’s large English garden beckoned me with its blooming shrubs, rose bushes, expansive green lawn and table and chairs set in the middle of all of this beauty.  I settled at the table and as you boys ran circles around me reveling in the free space to run and wrestle, I sat back and tried to relax my weary bones, breathing deep and thinking about my day, my life, my family.  Around 5:30 Teresa came home, looked out her window and waved.  In a short time she came out and joined me, smile on her face, bottle of wine in hand, small snacks on a tray.  She listened attentively to my woes and we laughed them away.  Not long after, Nancy and Harvey joined us.  It was a beautiful evening and you boys were happy to just play in the big yard so we continued our little happy hour.  Chris came home from work and joined the party followed by Gary, Maureen and their little girl, Sarah and then of course Pop.  Frances and Chester with their two little girls were the last to arrive with more snacks.  We continued to eat, drink, laugh and joke around.  We basked in each other’s company and talked about every subject under the sun.  We drank more wine and as dusk fell upon us we started throwing grapes up in the air to watch the bats dive bomb after them.  And then around 8 pm we realized that none of us had had dinner.  And so Nancy, Teresa and I went up to Teresa’s kitchen to find something to eat.  We made pizzas out of biscuit dough, tomato sauce and anything we could find in the fridge to put on them.  As I sat and ate, I looked from person to person and counted my blessings.  This was our new neighborhood and I could have kissed them all. 

*****

When Zach was four years old and Jake was nearly two I was very pregnant with Sam.  Pop’s Mom had very graciously provided us with a loan for a down payment on a house so Zach, Jake and I were house hunting while Pop was at work.  $165,000 was our top price and we hoped to not have to go that high as it would definitely stress our finances.  One evening Pop came home, newspaper in hand.  He was very excited because he had found a house in Santa Venetia that might work for us.  The next day he called the realtor and made arrangements to meet the realtor at the house during his lunchtime.  Our plan was for him to pick me and you boys up in San Rafael and we would all drive over together.  On the way to the house my waters broke.  Uh oh.  I was only 33 weeks and it was too early.  But alas Sam was in a hurry to meet us all.  We quickly went to Plan B.  Pop dropped me off back at our apartment in San Rafael and while I made plans to find childcare for Zach and Jake and pack for the hospital Pop rushed to look at the house.  He walked into the house, and greeted the realtor “Hi, I’m Jon, my wife’s having a baby so I only have a few minutes.”  Together they did a quick walk through.  Jon turned to the realtor and said “We’ll take it.  Our offer is $152,000.  Gotta go.”  And with that he ran out to the car and headed over to our apartment to take me to the hospital.  We were sitting together in the car and Pop says to me, “How are you doing?”  

“So far, so good, but it’s too early.” 

“It’ll be ok Laura.  By the way, we bought a house.”  

“Great, now let’s go have this baby.”  

Sam was born early the next morning and later that day we got a call telling us that our offer had been accepted.  I still had not seen the house.   We had no idea what the neighbors were like.  But that is how we landed in Santa Venetia with these beautiful neighbors - families that came into our lives only by chance because we happen to move onto the same block.  What we don’t share biologically we share in our mutual experiences, in being there for each other in times of need, in time spent on our porches and in our yards talking, laughing and sometimes even crying.  We share memories of our neighborhood and its evolution.  We know more about each other’s day to day lives than we do about our biological families.  If someone’s car doesn’t leave at the usual time or we haven’t seen someone in awhile, we check in on them. We all knew and still know that if we ever need help we could go to any one of these families. Most importantly we have grown to deeply love and respect each other.  It is a beautiful thing to have these second families and I often wonder how my life might have been different if I hadn’t landed on this block with these people at this time.