An Old Neighbor; A New Friend
May 13th, 2010 by ComputerBob
Yesterday, I ran some errands, including stopping at Sam’s Club to restock several supplies.
After checking out, I decided to stop at their deli for one slice of their fresh pizza — a much healthier choice than buying a whole pizza and taking it home to pig-out.
A few minutes after I sat down to eat, a man suddenly stood at the opposite corner of my tiny, white, 4-seat table.
He asked, “Do you mind if I sit here?”
I smiled and replied, “No — do you mind if I eat your hot dog?”
We both laughed and he sat down.
In silent seclusion, I ate my pizza and he ate his hot dog.
A few minutes later, he stood up to leave.
Then suddenly, he asked me, “Do you live on xxxxx xxxxx? (the street where I live)
Surprised, I answered, “Yes, I do.”
He said, “I’m your next-door neighbor, Eric.”
My wife and I have lived in our dream home for the past 6 years. Very quickly, we grew to love Mike and Annamarie — our next-door neighbors on one side — like a brother and sister.
In that same time period, we’ve seen Eric and or his wife several times.
I’ve even waved at him from my front yard several times, and he’s always politely waved back before either getting into his car and driving away, or walking into his house.
Unlike Mike and Annamarie, Eric and his wife always seemed like they wanted to be left alone.
So we left them alone.
In six years, we had never spoken to either of them.
And from speaking to our other neighbors, we knew that none of them had ever spoken to either of them either — or even knew their names.
But all of that changed yesterday, when Eric recognized me and chose to strike up a conversation during our chance meeting at a tiny white table in the Sam’s Club deli.
Where we had a great chat and got to know a little bit about each other’s lives for about twenty minutes.
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