Thank you, neighbor, for blessing me with your wisdom.

Hey friends!

kristopher here. You know, the one who gets all the wacky nicknames? (I went from Intern #5 to Vista #1 to kristaffer.) Yeah, that’s me. I come on every so often and write a blog about how joyful I feel when I hang out with my neighbors! This is another one of those. (Shout-out to my mom and grandma for always reading them!)

Today, I have been thinking about how our neighbors can bless us with wisdom if we only just talk with them and are willing to listen.

My neighbors bless me with wisdom.

This past Saturday, my sister and I walked over to my neighbor’s house, and the adventure began. This particular neighbor is older in age, and she has a sweet sweet German Shepherd puppy named Jessie. As you might guess, Jessie has more energy than anyone knows what to do with, so my neighbor told me I can I come over and walk Jessie anytime.

(Side note: It’s impossible to not fall in love with Jessie. My neighbor has. I have. Every other neighbor on our block has.)

My sister is a dog obsesser, so we decided to see if my neighbor was around and if we could take Jessie for a walk. We found my neighbor in her bursting backyard. And when I say bursting, I mean flowers. Like, flowers everywhere! My neighbor has the deepest of loves for flowers and the greenest of thumbs to boot. (It makes for a fantastic combination, if you were wondering.) Fittingly, my neighbor was painting a picture of a flower on the side of her garage when we found her, but after showing us the painting, she asked us to join her on her back porch. What proceeded was a beautiful, laugh-filled conversation that lasted at least a half hour. We talked about everything from knitting to politics to international travel. We had a distanced, yet just as meaningful, neighboring interaction in the midst of a global pandemic. My neighbor met my sister, and my sister met her. My neighbor also chastised me for calling a throw a “blanket” (I know, a most grievous crime.) and then broke the news to me that my sister got much more prettiness than I did. (Which is definitely true.)

In the end, we did take Jessie for a walk, and it was fantastic. But oho, our adventure didn’t end there! By the time we had returned, my neighbor had thought of a couple more things she wanted to tell us (She was definitely thinking about them when we were gone.) and we sat down for another half-hour conversation. It was so beautiful! And this will come as a surprise to none of you who read my blogs, but the conversations left me feeling so energized and so joyful! It’s true! (It’s crazy how they always do that.) I love it.

Anyways anyways, the week went on. The presidential debate happened, and yeah…enough said. But after watching the debate, some of my neighbor’s words came to my sister and I.

Some of her wisdom.

My neighbor told us about a time when people saw people before they saw their politics. When strangers and friends and neighbors would openly tell one another their thoughts on the art or science of government. Because they knew they could still talk with one another, or be their friend, or be their neighbor, after doing so, regardless of their differing ideas or beliefs. She told us that she’s scared. But she told us that she’s hopeful. And that no matter how trying the times, that there will always be hope. There will always be strangers and friends and neighbors, and that we can always embody what we long to be and see in the world. That the future is still in our hands.

And it was exactly what I needed to hear.

Thank you, neighbor, for blessing me with your wisdom.

Happy Friday to you all, dear friends! Stay healthy, stay well.

love from SoCe