Neigbors

So that I'm not tempted to grumble about the holidays when they arrive, I thought I'd tell you a story today.

I'm writing this post on November 4th, a couple of days after we joined the last work crew to clear tree debris from Hurricane Milton. Me, my guy, our next door neighbors and two other men from our neighborhood with a tractor and a dumpster-type trailer with a heavy duty truck came together to remove a tree that had fallen on our next door neighbors' property. It was a huge old oak that probably weighed several tons, and it was a definite hazard to anyone who went near it. They've tried for weeks to get a tree service out here to remove it but they're all backed up now for months.

It took from 10:30 am to 4:00 pm for the six of us to chop up and haul out the debris. That pic up there is the pile of branches, wood and tree trunk pieces that we removed and placed for county pickup on a vacant lot; it's half a block long. It was heavy work, and not much fun, but by steadily working together we got everything but the bottom of the trunk cleared away (it's so large the guys couldn't get their chainsaws through it, and too heavy for the tractor.) Our neighbors later tried to pay us, but we all laughed and refused the money.

In the days immediately after the hurricane those same two neighbors came over and helped us pile up our debris from the storm. Not one of us is under 50 years old, (my guy turned 75 this month), and this is really hard work that no one wants to do. Except us. We're neighbors.

Here you can see the bit of trunk that is left. I still have a few sore muscles, but only happy memories of that long, arduous day. We worked in pairs and everyone gave it their all. We laughed with each other the entire time, too. We got scratched up (I had to treat two people for gashes) and a little sunburned. My guy and I went to bed very early that night, too, but it was a marvelous day working with wonderful people.

It's funny that we worked so well together when we're all so different. We live in the same neighborhood here, but that's all -- we're friendly toward the neighbors, but not really friends or part of their circles. Our two neighbors are very active in their church and have a busy social life; my guy and I are pretty unsocial and prefer our empty nest with just a few family members visiting now and then. One of the men was a former deputy sheriff; the other just had back surgery not too long ago (you'd never know it from how hard he worked.) I think the two things that we all have in common is that we love this neighborhood, and we're not afraid of hard work.

I try to remember to be grateful for the people in my life every holiday. This work crew will top my list this year.