Challenge 7... neighbors...

There are neighbors and then there are neighbors.

Most of the people who live near you are neighbors. (OK, this is the South, so if you're anywhere else this might not be your experience, but this is how it is where I live, so, yeah.) Neighbors will smile and wave when your pass them. They'll pick up your mail when you're out of town. They'll walk across the way and bring you mis-delivered mail/packages. They'll do all the traditional neighborly stuff.


Neighbors, on the other hand, knock on your front door, holding two glasses of fresh-brewed tea and say, "You got time to sit on the porch and visit?"

Neighbors take your almost-but-not-quite potty-trained 2.9-year-old into their house for less than a minute, and when he emerges with a ziploc bag of fun-sized gummy Lifesavers packs and tells you, "I get one when I go pee pee in the potty and a whole pack when I poop in the potty," he hands you the bag and is fully potty trained forever and ever. (I STILL to this day to not know how she did that. She's the potty-training whisperer.)

Neighbors put signs in various places all over your house, counting down the last week before your 40th birthday. And the on your actual birthday, neighbors flock your yard with flamingos while you're out to dinner with your family.

And ten years later, neighbors come to your oldest son's graduation party and secretly hand off to your daughter a birthday sign and bag of 50 art foam candles with specific instructions for placement two days later.

Neighbors bring joy. Or in this case, neighbors are Joy. 

My friend Joy inspires me. Leprechauns work mischief around her house on St. Patrick's Day. Her kids' tooth fairies dipped their wings in a glass of water next to her kids' pillows, leaving behind their own special glittery color. I'm blessed to know her. She takes time to do the little things that make the world a little more magical.

We moved from the house next door to Joy over six years ago, and Joy has never stopped being our neighbor. For that I am overwhelmingly grateful. This world could use a lot more Joy.