"How do you get along with your neighbors? Are you friendly with any of them, or do you barely know anyone's name? Describe your neighborly relations."
I believe that all people are really good at heart. This belief is not rooted in a girlhood memory of Anne Frank, as I didn't touch the book or even really know the story until halfway through high school. More likely, I believe that people are all inherently good and decent because I have always been surrounded by good and decent people. Especially my neighbors.
My very first neighbor was a man named Doug. I just barely remember playing basketball with him in his driveway. I don't remember him talking much, but I know I really liked him. I found out later, much later, that his wife had fallen in to a coma and he was constantly in fights with her family about divorce and life support. They had married young, she had gotten sick young, and they never had any children. As an adult now I can only imagine how painful it might have been for this man, to see my young parents with their family right next door, such completely different stories in almost identical houses. He moved out and another young couple moved in. They had two of those dogs that look like miniature collies. Note: do people own collies anymore? Those are cool dogs.
Mr and Mrs Lamb lived on the other side of our house on 33rd street. They were elderly and had a lot of fun old stuff in their house. The old ladies who lived there before the Lamb's taught my dad how to grow roses.
When I was 11 we moved to Southland Drive. At first we had no neighbors. We didn't even have street lights. The subdivision built up around us and J and Babs moved in. Both pharmacists with two little girls who immediately fell in love with my dad. J brewed beer in his basement. Babs could cook up a storm. There was practically no boundary between our backyards.
I was one of maybe four girls over the age of 12 in the neighborhood, so I babysat almost every family. There was one family, the Foleys, who I have built my hopes for he future around. The Mrs was a yoga instructor who home schooled the oldest girl, who tested way, way above her grade level. The youngest boy had a crush on me and made me a Valentine's Day card. They took me to the beach and invited me over for dinner.