I was / felt a bit / under the weather today - literally - and soulfully. This morning, my neighbor knocked on my door to say goodbye. She and her dog Harry had packed up, and were heading off to Colorado to begin a new personal life. This has been one of those rare neighbors that you actually find interesting - and want to do things with. And oh how convenient. Like some old sitcom out of the 50s, and along with another neighbor, we would assemble at of our houses, and watch the sun set while contemplating on the week that had just come to an end. Or we would be invited to a party, and just seem to want to take the neighbors with us. I am sure people talked - including the other neighbors. Last night had they peered out the window, they would have seen me scooting across the dark from my house to doors down, with a Moroccan tagine in my hand, and disappearing through the gates of a neighbor. And then, at some point around midnight, two of us quietly exited one door, and both went our ways to other front doors in the neighborhood.
I have usually been the one to pack up and go. Others have had to mourn my departure, knowing our little village of friends had ended and things would never be the same. But this time, it was my neighbor that packed up, and moved to Colorado. She is in a new phase of her life, and was ready to be near family - to start anew - and to go to a place seemed to be calling her. I support her choice and celebrate her boldness.
But it is still sad.
Today, the weather was gray. I didn't feel like going into the city. The lights next door have never been so black.
And then tonight, I came across an ad for Ace Hardware, that somehow, spoke of what I might be feeling. And I wondered if there is secret truth here…
