This weekend my neighbor asked if I really wanted to share personal information with all of you, to which I said, well, yes.  So then she asked if I was going to write things about her on the blog - aha.  She didn't care if I shared about ME she was just worried I was going to talk about HER.  Funny thing is that as I was walking to her house I was thinking about writing about her.  I guess her concerns were valid.  And now, I can't help myself.

Of course she is worried I am going to say "check out my freaky neighbor, did you know she actually (insert your favorite horrible activity here)".  But really, here is what I was going to say:

We hit the neighbor jackpot.  I just didn't know how much I needed neighbors like Michelle and Dale until we had neighbors like Michelle and Dale.  Their kids are our kids ages, and they go to the same school.  The kids get along very well, most of the time.  Dale is a pediatric emergency room doctor.  Michelle is a massage therapist.  Free medical advice and cheap massages.  You don't need to hear more, but there is more.  They car pool, they watch our kids, they invite us over and include us in their parties.  They have a really fun house, which our kids love to go to. 

I love having neighbors that will call to borrow a cup of sugar, or a cot at 9 PM.  I love having neighbors that will watch our kids when we need help, and find a way to make it seem like no big deal.  Ever.  It is helpful having neighbors who let your kid come back to their house, even after she imitates Dale (plays doctor). 

They do all kinds of things we don't do - they entertain often, and usually invite us.  And they entertain big.  Dale did a Lord of the Rings party last year where he built a hobbit door into the garage, among other things.  My kids still talk about it.  They usually have all kinds of animals and let us pet them.  Michelle is a sucker for a lost dog.  Even if that lost dog is a puppy, or two puppies, or, well, eight puppies.  There are almost always foster puppies at their house that Michelle cares for, without regard to how messy or irritating they are.  I am always picking the practical path, and I love that my kids get to be around puppies, and see that there are people in the world with compassion that is stronger than concern for convenience.  Michelle is smart, funny and unbelievably great to my kids (they are just upright puppies after all).  Dale builds things in the yard.  And gardens.  And brews beer.  And spent time in Iraq in the military last year. He is ridiculously tolerant of me calling to say "Andra can't move her neck and Grace is limping, should I worry?" My kids are lucky enough to learn from all these things, just because we live next door.

I guess the best thing is this. Even though I know it is stupid, I have thought for a long time that if I worked I wasn't really entitled to have friends, since I was already away from home so much.  Any free time I have is for the girls.  But with people like Michelle and Dale as neighbors, I can be with the girls and have friends.  Who knew?