neighbors

there are many things i am finding fascinating about living here. some of these things are new to me not necessarily because of the state i have chosen in which to live, but because they are completely new life experiences for me.

such as the existence of neighbors.

it’s not like i’ve never had them. from birth until the age of 8, we had neighbors. granted, we couldn’t see in each others windows, but our lawns touched, so you could see when the neighbor had mowed their grass and we had not. but i don’t remember feeling especially physically close to them, probably because our lots were several acres each.

when i was 8 years old, we moved to the farm. there were neighbors within walking distance, but we couldn’t see them when the corn (found on three sides of our lot and across the road) got too tall or the rain/snow came down to hard and too fast. we were free to scream, run around naked, start fires and be basically uncivilized: no one would really ever know, it wouldn’t wake anyone up from their afternoon nap. it really was a fabulous arrangement.

and so i move to a townhouse. we only share one of our walls (i think that means this is a duplex, but i’m not really up on my terminology, except that everything’s called “a unit”). it is very obvious what wall this is: it’s the wall without lots of windows everywhere. (we do not lack natural light in this unit, which i think is amazing. even our backsplash has little holes cut into the wall with frosted glass windows inset.)

and suddenly, i know when my neighbor comes home from work every evening because i can hear his motorcycle- it sounds just like trevor’s- pull in. if kids are out playing in the street i can hear them. currently, i smell someone grilling. i knew the superbowl was on because i could hear cheering coming of one of the houses down the street.

it is the strangest thing, this living with other people near you.

and to think that the majority of the world lives like this (or in even more condensed!). makes me go “huh”.