Here’s why I recommend getting to know the neighbors. We’re still emerging from our quarantine-nation. In my case, two cross country relocations since 2020. Since my physician recommended that I walk every day for twenty minutes, I find myself walking among the dog walkers in the early morning. I realize that I’d get to know my neighbors more quickly if I had a dog. That’s not going to happen. But I am realizing that getting to know the neighbors is a process. It begins with a wave of the hand, a smile, a few words of greeting, sometimes a bit more conversation. The key is continuity. I’ve only been at it a few weeks.
Another help was the unintended consequence of a letter carrier who delivers mail to a neighbor with the same street number as mine, but on different streets. We stop by each other’s house with the letter or package meant for the other. It’s a funny way to learn another person’s name. It’s a beginning.
It will take time to get acquainted with the neighbors, and they with us. It’s worth the investment of taking time each day to say hello. It seems to be a way of knitting our frayed society back together. So I’ll end on this note.
Marni Nixon is the singer whose voice is dubbed into the film. She was also the singing voice of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.
Be well
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