Plunging Into Bluffton

September 12, 2005

Just last month my mother sold the house in New Jersey that I grew up in. (To move to Bluffton, of course.) As she toiled packing up 33 years of memories – and let’s face it, some bunk – she remarked that our neighbor, Bill, had talked to her more in her last weeks there than he had in the 20 years that they had lived next door to each other. He lived there for twenty years, I asked? Hmm, I couldn’t pick this guy out of a line up. Now that I think about it – the lady who lived across the street for the last 10 years was an utter mystery to me as well. And, that got me thinking.

I’ve been in my new home in Bluffton for just over a month. I know the name of all of my neighbors and I’d even recognize them outside of their driveways and backyards, where we often wander over to chat.

We lucked out … all of the homes on my street where be being built at the same time, so we would often bump into each other on Friday afternoons as we surveyed the work that had been done during the week. Then, in quick succession, we all moved in within days of each other – piling up empty moving boxes on our neighbors front porch for their use, to then be passed along to the next.

We immediately bonded with the folks next door when we had to knock on their door on our first afternoon in the new house to embarrassingly ask to borrow a plunger. The bad news for all was that their plunger was still packed in an unmarked box as well.

We have been blessed with great neighbors next door, who have soon to be four year old twin boys. Picture the kid from the movie Jerry McGuire (the one with the infamous “the human head weighs ten pounds” quote) and you’ll quickly understand … and just when I thought, this is the cutest kid I’ve ever seen, over strolls his brother who is the cutest kid I’ve ever seen.

My husband and I quickly became Mr. Joe and Miss Cort-e-nee (and our beloved pup Darby now answer to De-barbie), which immediately endeared us to our pint-size neighbors. We quickly learned that nothing is as relaxing as the sound of children’s laughter. The “boys” as we call them have become our friends (their parents are pretty cool too).

When they ask if we want “to play”, we, of course, oblige … we watch them swing in our hammock and we run for the camera, we play catch, we “race”, and we pretend to struggle across the monkey bars on their new swing set.

Instead of wondering about who our neighbors are, we know.

So now that we are settled, and comfortable enough to ask for a plunger when needed (yet still determining where to put those bronzed baby shoes that mom packed and brought with her) – I leave you with this … your neighbors are one key piece in the puzzle to making Bluffton home, go ahead, go ask for a plunger – it may be the start of a beautiful friendship.