How to be a good neighbor.
I have had wonderful neighbors and not so good neighbors. I have always tried to be a good neighbor but must admit that many years ago when I was in my 20’s, I was not a very good neighbor to a friend that lived close by. That is actually the only time that I remember not being a good neighbor. I would just show up at her back door without being invited, just to visit. That is not being a good neighbor. Here are some other things that I think should be remembered along these lines. One thing in particular that I remember was a lovely couple next door that felt it was totally appropriate to just walk in to our house at any time unannounced. Since my husband and I thought nothing of running around our house in our pajamas or me in a house coat with not much under it or some variations of all that that we would not think of wearing around anyone except our children and each other. So, to look up and have neighbors suddenly standing in our kitchen was totally unacceptable. Actually, now, and for many, many, years, we do not even go to one of our children’s homes without calling first. And they know to do the same even though we all have keys to each other’s homes. To me, that is just common courtesy. Another thing we do not like is for anyone, neighbor or not, to borrow something and not return it promptly.
We do not do that and do not want others to do that.
We have had neighbors that were incredibly nosy. We really like our privacy and do not wish to share private information with our neighbors. Especially those that are acquaintances rather than friends and were shocked when we first moved to a new place and had a neighbor tell us all kinds of very personal things about the people that we had bought our house from. This made us very leery of what they would want to know about our private matters. We have had neighbors that had drinking problems and would scream and yell at each other and/or their pets at all hours of the night. We also have had to put up with neighbors pets that would bark all night long. I also strongly advise people with pets to obey the lease laws in their neighborhood as well as to clean up after their pets that use other’s yard as a private bathroom. I have had neighbors that wanted to use my swimming pool which wasn’t acceptable to me as I spent a great deal of time in and around my pool and caring for it. Another neighbor insisted that I hand paint a small mural on her wall as she loved what I had done in my own home. I finally did it but wasn’t happy about it. But that was my fault. She would also invite me over for tea and cookies and then sit me down to watch some slides of her family as she would then walk out of the room and take the unwrapped cookies with her. Trust me, these things only happened once as I weaned myself away from her as fast as I could. But these are things good neighbors should not do.
Another neighbor came over to tell me what all I should have my yard man do to things that were in my yard, not hers, and all this “advice” was totally unasked for. We happen to be very good friends with some of our neighbors and really enjoy them. But to be a good neighbor you need to follow the golden rule. I hope that my readers also have good neighbors and try to be good neighbors. Would love to hear your thoughts.
