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An Unexpected Moment

It was the sweet hour of the sun heading home. I stood in L Studio, my back to the window, taking advantage of the still bright natural light. La, la, la. I snipped away at a strip of red card stock to fit in a discarded book's hanging-for-dear-life spine. I wanted to fortify the spine before sewing in my own page signatures to make an art journal. Fun.  La, la, la. . . .

Bzzz. What the heck? Bzzzzzz. Louder. Bzzzzzzzzzzzz. And louder. BzzzZZZZZZZZZ. Over my head and around to my back. BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.  I turned and stepped to the window. 

Striding around the corner of the house and towards the window was our neighbor to the north, his leafblower strapped to his belly like a weapon. I recognized him instantly. What was he doing here? How did he get in the backyard?  Our neighbor is a law enforcement officer. Was something wrong? We locked eyes immediately. Neither of us seemed that much surprised to see each other. 

"Your husband said a lot of dust blew over to your side when we washed the roof yesterday. I'm sorry."  

I noticed gravel this morning and wondered what weeds the Husband pulled out, being that there were none.

"I'm going to blow the dust away," said our neighbor, getting his leafblower in ready position.

"You don't have to do that," I said. "Look around you." 

His resolve flickered just a nanosecond as he glanced at my work table holding a chaos of plants and painted pots and dried leaves and dirt and whatnot surrounded by even more chaos. "That's okay," said our neighbor, "I'm going to do it."

At that moment the Husband walked into the backyard. He had the matter at hand. "Thank you," I shouted over the leafblower to the neighbor and turned back to my project.

Later, the Husband told me he was talking with our neighbor and before he knew it, he blurted out about the dust and grit. The Husband said he didn't intend for the neighbor to clean it, but the neighbor insisted. He even offered to wash our garbage cans, which the Husband declined.

I am sure Mama's Spirit is smiling and feeling quite proud of the Husband.  She was known for telling neighbors to clean up the mess they unintentionally made on her property. I suppose when you're old and fragile looking, you can get away with that.  Is that how younger people see the Husband and me now?


Comments

  1. Oh Susie you make me laugh! Nobody sees you two as old. I’m sure the neighbor is just about being responsible (or else he’s scared of your fierceness ))).

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  2. Hello,

    Susie, Mama's Spirit is proud of both you and your hubby. I am glad the neighbor took care of cleaning up his mess. Take care, wishing you a happy day!

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  3. You created a truly nice abstract in colouring. Your Mama would love that neighbour...so do I because that is so very nice.

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  4. We may look 'old' on the outside, but we're still . . . hmm . . . probably teenagers, on the inside. :D

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  5. He should clean up his mess. That he was willing is good on him.

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  6. Su-sieeemac - I still think of myself as a 21-year-old, and am sometimes quite shocked to be called ma'am, or to realize that someone younger sees me as older. Sigh. But it doesn't really matter. And I digress - glad your neighbor was accountable!

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  7. good on all of you.... you for speaking up, your husband for being truthful with no expected outcome and good on your neighbor for taking responsibility

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  8. It's encouraging that your neighbor cared enough to do something!

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Thanks for the good cheer. :-)

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