Good neighbours

I live in a townhouse complex. And sometimes the people can be pretty complex too 😛
We do not have a security guard at the gate or anything like that, but basically we each have our own houses with a small fenced in yard, within a larger boundary that is high walled with electric fencing running along the top. With the increase in crime here, and a few incidents of late, the decision has been made to install cameras at the main gate as well.
Living like this has its perks, and its downfalls. You can’t help but ‘know your neighbours’ because they’re not very far away from you.
I know the neighbour next to me quite well, because he’s been living here for six years now, and I know the neighbours and their beautiful adopted little boys well too – we’ve shared life for nine years now!

I tell you this because today, among other days to be celebrated, is ‘Good Neighbour Day’.

I can remember the times when I lived in a ‘freestanding house’, on a road, along with other houses. I still knew my neighbours then, simply because when we moved in, I would go to the houses across from me and both sides of me and introduce myself. Many times, I think people thought I was just plain weird.
Someone once commented to me that it’s a good thing to do because at least you ‘know them’ if something happens to you, or if there’s a break in etc.

But that was never my reason. I’m a people person, and I like to ‘know’ – to try and connect. (So no, the reason was never out of curiosity or nosiness either 😛 ) I also wanted people to ‘see me’, so that if they needed help they could approach me.

Your neighbours are not just the people living next to you, or in the vicinity of your home, though.

My theory is this : ‘home is where the heart is’, so wherever my heart travels (wherever I go, whether it be to the shop, or to the bank etc. my heart is inside my body and goes with me) and therefore every person who comes into contact with me could be considered my neighbour. Because I live in my body – it is a home for my soul.

And so yes, we get back to the familiar tangent I always seem to be on, ha ha ha!

Having a good house neighbour that you know you can call on to borrow some sugar, or feed your dogs if you’re away, or bring home bread and milk if you are ill etc, is fantastic!

What if, when we are out there in the world (away from our ‘living in’ home) we still practice being a good neighbour? A smile, and a greeting, to the person who we happen to catch the eye of; assistance for the lady juggling three bags of groceries and her keys; an offer to assist someone who seems to be wandering aimlessly around a grocery store (it can be fun to BOTH be searching for the same thing, ha ha ha!).

Sometimes this means stepping out of our comfort zone. For some of us, it isn’t easy to ‘go boldly and just do’ because it isn’t in our nature.

But the rewards of kindness, for both the person performing the act as well as the person on the receiving end, are simply out of this world! And they make your heart/home a little happier and lighter.

So once again….

Let’s leave footprints of love and kindness wherever we go! 😉

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