Neighbor fail

After only a few months of living here in my new neighborhood, I could give #327 good reason why you should know your neighbors. This whole being friends with your actual, next-door neighbors, and everyone else in the near vicinity, is new to me. Beside college dorms, I can't say I've been very good at knowing my neighbors. Not past the age of 12, at least. (Heck, I wasn't very good at being neighbors with my college dorm mates, either).

Knowing my neighbors is rubbing off on me though, and I like it.

Funny thing is, though, that I'm sitting at the Starbucks closest to my house, and my neighbor, one who lives below me in the very same house, is sitting here, too. She is deep in study, and I don't think she knows I'm here... but even if she did I don't think she'd say hi. Not unless we happened to bump into each other, literally. So do I get up, interrupt her, and say hello? I wish. I really do. But our relationship with our neighbors below us has been a bit rocky, and though friendly enough, friendship definitely hasn't happened. Not with me, at least.

I'm not blaming it on them, and I don't know if sitting here without getting up and intentionally saying hi is the right thing to do. But I'm doing it. And I just want everyone else to know I can be a wimp.

One of the wonderful things about being friends with people on the street is that they are so open to conversation, and so ready to acknowledge you, affirm you, and be grateful for you. I'm grateful for these friendships, too, and they impact me daily. I want them to shape and change how I interact with friendships that are formed with my co-workers, with my "peers" ... it's just really difficult. I'm definitely still learning.

More soon...