The House Next Door

I’ve lived in my house about twenty five years. The house to the west of mine has had three different families live there during that time.

Shortly after I moved in, a middle aged couple moved into the house. It was evident from the get-go who was in charge of that household. He was. His name was John. From the neighborhood grapevine I found out he was retired career military. His favorite past time was to put on his bib overalls, tuck both hands inside the ‘bib’ portion of said overalls, and walk the neighborhood telling every homeowner and contractor what they were doing wrong with their house and / or yard.

He did not endear himself to anyone to say the least.

At the time my son owned a landscape company. As a gift to me he wanted to update my backyard with landscaping and new plantings. It didn’t take John long to walk across that lot line to point out the errors my son was making.

Without skipping a beat, my son told John to turn around and look at his own yard which hasn’t been mowed in over a month. John returned home.

John’s wife was a very mousy woman who didn’t talk much. I never approached her for conversation while I was outside at the same time she was because John was always close on her heels. Talking to her would mean engaging in conversation with him and he knew EVERYTHING.

They stayed over ten years and then sold to a young couple. The new folks immediately put new siding on the house, did some landscaping, but like John, they rarely mowed their lawn.

They were friendly if we were all outside doing yard work but weren’t overly excited to engage. Found out they were both in the medical field and this home was kind of a ‘layover’ as they tried to get their dream jobs in another city / state.

About a year after they landed here I noticed she was pregnant. As a friendly gesture I crocheted a baby afghan for them and gave them my phone number in the event they needed anything with winter approaching.

Spring came and so did a baby boy. Their families from out of state came to see the new grandson so I baked some muffins and took them over.

One day she brought the baby over and a hanging plant to say thank you for everything and to tell me they were moving to Ohio. They were here about three years. The house was sold to a woman who bought it as a place for her son to live while he was in medical school.

I thought it was odd that she was buying this house for her son considering there are four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Turns out that there are at least four medical students living there. They are quiet. I can see them studying at the dining room table almost daily. They had a party once and came over to let us know, in advance of the party, that if the music gets too loud, we should let them know.

Found out what they didn’t know was that they needed to mow the lawn, clean the leaves out of their gutters, and that they are responsible for shoveling their sidewalks when it snows.

They were surprised to hear all of this. I find it odd that these gentleman, who are going to be doctors and will be in charge of making medical decisions that could mean life or death, have no idea how to maintain a lawn or shovel snow.

It scares me to think that someone’s life is going to be in their hands when they have no common sense.

In the meantime they’ve lived in the house next door for over two years and their lawn, with their invasive weeds, are spreading into my well-maintained yard.

I’m ready to try a new family who knows how to take care of a home and yard.