Departures and Arrivals....

and a soft gray beginning to the day. As if we weather watchers hang poised, in anticipation of what comes next. The frosty, gleaming, wildness of Winter has yet to make a grand entrance onto the stage of our lives. We wait, peering this way and that, smelling the air for wood smoke, watching the weather forecast and the clouds that scurry by, heading east. The stage is all set, the shortest day of the year is approaching. The longest darkness and the turning towards the light will come, with or without snow and Ms. Winter. We can count on the turning of the seasons. On the home front, my closest neighbor has gone to her daughter's for the winter. She is quite elderly and frail. News came this week of her decision. It was a big yellow moving van. It loaded all her furniture and took it to storage. I'm sad. Lucille was such a sweet neighbor. Our paths only crossed occasionally, but I was fond of her. On the cold, windy days of mid winter, if I hurried, I could get both of our garbage cans to the curb before she had to bundle up and come out. And if I listened for the truck, I could get them back up to the gargage again...*VBS* In return, if I forgot it was garbage day, she took my can, along with hers. I will miss Lucille.
A call from the resident manager last evening confirmed what I already knew...a new person is moving in as soon as the carpet is cleaned and dries. Probably later this evening or first thing tomorrow. My new neighbor will be Gloria. She is 63 and very, very happy to gotten a unit out here, just a mile from town, and is such a lovely complex. I'm sure it will be a good thing, but for today I'll think about Lucille, and miss her a bit more...*VBS* I often think of Robert Frost's poem "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors", and while I understand the sentiment, I think maybe smiles make good neighbors too.