Are you my Neighbour?

It’s a beautiful day in this neighbourhood
A beautiful day for a neighbour
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?...



No, I never really watched Mister Roger’s Neighbourhood. I have no idea what the show is about. My first guess would be neighbours, but I really have no clue. For some reason, though, when I sat down to type this, the first line of the theme song came into my head. I guess it’s a pretty popular line, because I sure don’t know it from the show. The only reason I have the next three lines here is because I googled what I knew and found the rest!

But neighbours seems to be a good theme for today. Is it just me, or do you see your neighbours more once the weather is warm too? It’s so nice to be able to go outside and see who has been living next to you all winter. And a lot of people seem to become more “neighbourly” with the nice weather too. There are the daily greetings, the sharing of lawn-care tools, and the smell of what everyone else is having for supper each night.

And then there are the random things that make having good neighbours extra nice. The things they do because they see that you need it, even though you don’t want to ask. The things that are offered, just because of your close proximity to them.

The other day was garbage day. Moving brings out a lot of extra garbage. The town limit for number of bags is 2 per week. I understand this. It makes sense. But I put out 4 bags. Every week I put out my one or two bags, so I thought that this week, and only this week, I might receive some grace and have my 4 bags taken. And surely the fact that my neighbour across the street had only one small grocery bag would help my odds of a 4-bag week. Not so much. I came home after work to see two big black garbage bags still sitting on my driveway/grass. I was pretty ticked. Later that afternoon, I went over to our neighbours’ house to pick up our lawn mower so that I could mow quickly before supper. She made a comment that our garbage hadn’t been picked up and I, still feeling pretty ripped that I was stuck with two extra bags of garbage and only two more garbage days to get rid of them before moving day, told her what had happened. She, having just moved in, said that I would be welcome to use her driveway the next week except that she usually has her two full bags on her own. I said that was fine and might just have to look for empty driveways the next week but would be stuck with these two bags until then (with an open house the next day and nowhere to store them). I went home, freshly annoyed with the garbage people, but when I went inside to change my clothes for mowing, I caught a glimpse of this neighbour and her son walking back across the street with my two garbage bags in their hands. Now they are sitting on her driveway, waiting for garbage day.

I felt incredibly humbled and grateful. It’s such a small thing, but it just made me feel so grateful for my neighbours who would sacrifice their driveway so that mine could be clear for our open house. I think I’ll have to bake some cookies and take them over as a thank you. It has made me think, though, am I a good neighbour to have? I’m probably not a bad neighbour…I keep our lawn mowed and our dog quiet. We don’t party late and loud and don’t use more than our allotted space. But is being a good neighbour about your neighbours not noticing you, or is it about them noticing you but in a good, appreciative way? How can I go above and beyond to be a good neighbour wherever I am? What can I do to be intentional about that? Hmm…