More Than A Neighbor

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Dear Editor:

What is a Neighbor? He walks into your house the first day you move in and starts cleaning without asking. He puts a fence up at the top of the stairs when your children are born and twenty years later there is not one nail or lock that is loose.

There is no need to go to Home Depot or Walmart.... Because he has three of what you need in different sizes and still in original wrapping. He talks about his children and grandchildren with pure pride and joy. He starts a book club of two.... with your book lover wife and himself.

Every day after you shatter your ankle, he checks on you and brings you food.  He asks you if the nuns from the covenant can swim in your pool. You get delighted when you come home from work and find ten nuns frolicking in your pool.

The person on the block everyone looks to for help and guidance. He tells wonderful stories of his former professional life. Your daughter, instead of taking the bus, calls him from school to pick her up (many times) without either one of them telling you.

He treats your children like his own grandchildren. Delivering eggs to your door is a monthly ritual. You don’t take in your garbage cans for eighteen years, because he beats you to it.

He helps an elderly neighbor every single day and walks her dog. They become a fixture of the neighborhood.

When you asked his wife many years ago, so, why do you love this guy? She says, “Well to tell you the truth, I thought when I married him he would treat me like a princess. But instead he treats me like a queen.”

He is Ed and will always be like the father I never had, the neighbor I always looked for, and the angel I look up to. You were a great neighbor and will be an even better angel. I love you, Ed.

Neighbor in Awe


