October 18, 2016

Neighbor

31 Days of Practicing Faith

In October, I am free writing for five minutes a day—raw and unedited—on practicing faith in the every day. Each day is based on a different prompt from 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes.

{Day 18} – Neighbor

“That family over there lives in our neighborhood,” I said with a laugh in one of those “it’s a small world” moments. My family was enjoying a fun fall day at a farm and apple orchard in the North Georgia Mountains, about two hours from our home. As the lady passed by, I reached out to gently touch her shoulder and say “hello.” Her look of surprise echoed mine at seeing someone you know hours from home but then she did the strangest thing. She hugged my sister standing next to me.

“Wait, how do you know her?” we both said. We spent the next twenty minutes talking about how she worked in the same school as my sister and mom (who proceeded to chase her down to say hello in the moonshine museum—yes, that’s really a thing here in the south). We laughed as I recounted the story about how she had seen my husband out on a walk with our two-year-old and new baby one day shortly after we moved in five years ago. She tucked away the mental mom of a new mom that had just moved in a couple streets over. A few days later she showed up with two smiling toddlers of her own and a pot of soup she had made for us. As a tired mom, I thanked God for a friendly neighbor.

We didn’t become close friends but we follow each other’s families on facebook and say hello and exchange stories whenever we meet. But we introduced husbands and grandfathers standing around the farm in the next few minutes like we were old friends. We said good-bye and went on with our fall festivities. Because we had taken the time to get to know a neighbor, the world got a little smaller and friendlier years ago and on an autumn day many miles away. I tucked away another mental note to make a point to meet a few more neighbors. You never know when you will need a friendly face in a sea of strangers.

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