Won't you be my neighbor ?

Hello
Originally uploaded by bivoir

Up until quite recently, I mean like within the last few months, I have not necessarily ever been what I would call "neighborly". I usually stayed to myself, even when I lived with my former partner, not really going out of my way to get to know neighbors. In one complex, I socialized with a couple neighbors and that was about it. I was never what the State Farm motto claims: "Like a good neighbor, ______ is there". Quite the contrary, I was never there for my neighbors nor did I turn to them.

Snow storms can either bring out the best in people or the worst. The one that hit my area yesterday, leaving quite the wreckage today brought out the very best in all of us -- in particular, me. Early this morning, as I was reading and drinking coffee, I heard my voice being called out, faintly and then shrieking. I opened my door to find that my upstairs neighbor had collapsed on our steps. I kept my calm, asking all the questions I learned from many years of being a CPR/First Aid instructor. She was not having a stroke nor a heart attack; she had done too much shoveling on an empty stomach and her blood sugar had plummeted. Quickly getting her juice from another neighbor and then cut up tangerines, her color came back slowly. We sat on the steps for nearly an hour, just talking. In the midst of this, two other neighbors joined us. It was agreed after this incident, that we would walk this neighbor up to her apartment to ensure she rested and had a good breakfast and that myself and another neighbor would dig out her car.

I bundled up and got ready for the tasks at hand. In times past, I would've been bitchin up a storm. This was the farthest notion from what I experienced. I felt cheerful, like what is described in the Big Book of AA when one is able to be in service. I asked G-d this morning in my prayers to help me have strength to dig out of the snow and to be of usefulness to my fellows. And here was my opportunity to do just that. The shoveling, while tiring and back-aching, did not feel like a "chore". I took pride in each scoop. I did my neighbor's car first and then mine. There was no rush, no urgency.

After I was done, I got my neighbor's keys and made sure the car could be easily backed out as she would be leaving quite early tomorrow morning for work. She was delighted. Once feeling better, she stopped by and said she was going stir crazy and wanted to test-drive the roads and would be picking up items at the local co-op -- did I need anything ? I actually did and there was no hesitation in putting my request in.

This is what it means to be a neighbor. It seems so incredibly simple and easy and it is truly the first time in my adult life that I have not been so self-centered and, instead, have felt open-hearted and generous of spirit to actually show up as a decent neighbor. In a couple weeks, I will be hanging out with neighbors for a potluck and a drumming circle. It was such a thrill to be invited.

There are many gifts of recovery and healing that I am uncovering each day. This is a very special one in particular.

My days of isolation feel like they will no longer have a place. They are being evicted. A neighborly soul has moved in and she wants to take up plenty of space.