Getting to Know You
The house just South of us is now sold, neighbor Mary has moved on to her new home in Denver (we even had dinner with her in Denver a few weeks ago) and the new neighbors are in the process of moving in. Today I saw that they seemed to be around, so Kim and I wandered over through our garden trellis and introduced ourselves. Both the man and the woman are trained as biologists (they apparently met in school in British Colombia) with him acting as a biological consultant to various industries and her running the clinical trials at a major San Diego oncology laboratory. They have two kids, one in college and one still in high school. They are moving here from nearer the coast in Carlsbad and seem very pleased to be moving into the hills of our little community. They have had renovations done and have a few more in process, but they are starting to move in. That process will continue over the next month or so until they close on the sale of their Carlsbad house. We threw out a suggestion about having them over for dinner in the next few weeks and they seemed pleased at the prospect. We will likely invite Winston and Kathleen and Jeff and Shannon and make it a real Welcome Wagon event.
Life on this hilltop in retirement…during a global Pandemic…has been a challenge as far as making new friends. We moved here ostensibly because we both had family in the area, but other than Winston and Kathleen, who we’ve known for almost ten years, we only very casually know any of our other neighbors. Most of them are retired like us so its not as though most of them are too busy, its just that we all seem to get into our routines and the best we seem to do is wave at each other or Kim running into other dog walkers. We are both somewhat determined to broaden that network of local friends and are prepared to take the initiative to do so. It’s less about being social butterflies and more about being a bit impatient to establish some connections. We like our existing neighbors a great deal, but are anxious to add to that array. With two of the four neighbors on our street (I am adding Jeff and Shannon even though they are not technically on Quail View Drive) changing this year, we are anxious to get to know the new folks and both make them feel welcome and make friends with them. I reckon these biologists are about twenty years our juniors, but that seems less of a gap than it might otherwise since they are close to empty nesting.
We have learned that the house directly north of us and across from Winston and Kathleen has been sold to a pair of physicians. While its good to have biologists nearby, it might even be better to have physicians nearby….just what they wanted, another source of medical advice freeloaders. The closing process seems underway and we have seen the usual array of home transfer services coming and going, checking for termites and doing home inspections. The estimate is that it will probably still be another 45+ days until they move in unless they have extensive renovations to do prior to that. In any case, this planned dinner with our new biologists may just be a warm up for the next gathering to welcome the physicians to the neighborhood.
We have also noticed that the Peruvian family that has bought the vacant lot on the Southeast corner has placed an RV on the building pad. I noticed it as we drove by today, but also noted that they had tucked it into a stone alcove on the lot such that its not very visible from Quail View Drive. That was a nice and considerate touch that I’m not sure everyone would think to do. I think they have a much longer road ahead before the Welcome Wagon can be expected to swing by since they still have significant building permit issues to resolve and a full construction schedule to negotiate. If they move in during 2022 that will be an accomplishment. I know they live in San Juan Capistrano now, which is a funny coincidence in that it seems our neighbors are moving here from the coastal area. That makes perfect sense to me since I like to admire the ocean from a distance. We have met the Peruvian couple twice now, once at our neighborhood gathering (a real day-of coincidence) and once as they drove by as I was watering the illegal ice plants I planted on the vacant lot between their lot and Winston’s. I sent them the full map and list of all the neighbors and their contact info to help them as they maneuver with the County.
It has not been since I lived in Rockville Centre in the early eighties that I have made an effort to get to know and socialize with my proximate neighbors. The exception to that is Gary & Oswaldo, who lived next door to us on Staten Island for three years. We are best friends with G&O now, so who knows where these friendships may lead. We are glad that our new neighbors are more likely to be blue in their political orientation (at very least they presumably believe in science, which is a bit of a tell when it comes to politics of the moment). It’s hard to believe that such a consideration even factors into my thinking. In years gone by it might have come up around an election and even then would have been little more than cause for a passing high five or mild barb thrown. Now it brings a meaningful sigh of relief to know that you are surrounded by like-minded individuals, who, oddly enough, believe in thinking more rather than less broadly. Now that I say that I realize how contradictory that sounds. I want people next door who think more like me and are able to think about others in the most inclusive manner. Wow, what our world has come to.
I should add that Kathleen and Winston are likely not blue (we are fairly certain of that) and that does not get in the way of our friendship. I am les certain about the orientation of Jeff and Shannon, but as a conservation-minded young couple (Jeff is a Park Ranger and Shannon a dog trainer) we suspect that ecological concerns alone are enough to sway them blue…or so we hope. If we are seeing a true trend with coastal folks moving inland a bit to hilltops like ours, we should expect more and more penetration of blue and at least seeing the district shift from its current deep red to at least a deep purple. I will try to use our “getting to know you” dinners to suss out the state of play on the coloration of our newly constituted hilltop. Let’s see how subtle I can be. Up here I think good politics will make good neighbors since fences are not really part of most people’s game plans.