This afternoon, Tyler and I hiked down our driveway and walked the four hundred and eighty feet separating us from our closest neighbor. Holding another loaf of homemade, ribbon-bedecked banana bread as a friendship offering, we rang the doorbell, curious to see who would answer the door. In my head, I was sending a silent plea to the universe:
Please let it be someone amicable, someone who won't be crotchety or nosy, someone from whom we could borrow a cup of sugar if need be. If you want to be really nice, let it be the woman with the cool sweater who we always see walking her dog!
My plea was miraculously answered. The person who answered the door was the dog lady! It was thus that we met Hercilia, a warm and friendly Argentinian woman in her thirties, who works from home in the publishing industry. We hit it off immediately, and our quick visit turned into a ridiculously long conversation, enjoyed by her crackling fireplace.
Soon, we were bundling up for a walk on our land to show Hercilia and her dog Roscoe the property. We hiked all the way out to our pond, marveling at the beauty all around us. So many fat, wet snowflakes were falling from the sky that it looked like we were in a snowglobe!
Eventually, Hercilia and Roscoe headed home. As soon as they rounded the bend on their way down the drive, Tyler and I broke into an arm-pumping happy dance. GAHHH!! OH MY GOD WE HAVE AWESOME NEIGHBORS! WE CAN BE FRIENDS!
Not five minutes later, Hercilia returned with her husband, Jeremy, who had just gotten off work. He is a super friendly, outdoorsy, fellow midwesterner, who leads fly-fishing and backcountry adventures all over the world. Needless to say, we hit it off all over again. Soon we were all talking non-stop about life and love and travel and homesteading and how amazing it was going to be to have like-minded neighbors of a similar age.
You want to learn about photography? We can teach you! And you can teach us about fly fishing and hunting! We can knit together! We can split garbage and recycling services! We can have cooking nights!
When we moved here without really knowing a soul, I wasn't sure if we'd find kindred spirits and friends. Amazingly, we lucked out, big time.