My neighbors Parker and Patty are always telling me how proud they are to be a part of Port O Connor, Texas. They say it is a great community and so friendly. Recently, like most of POC, they have had lots of company. Vacationing family, fishing friends and Fourth of July guests have kept them hopping. They found themselves with lots of work to get ready and stay ready for all the visitors. Mowing lawns, weeding flowerbeds, prepping guest beds and cooking were tasks that took time and the rainy time made it tough.
One week they had more jobs than time. Parker and Patty needed to be at a church function the same time they needed to start a promised shrimp boil for visiting family. Their young neighbor, a single dad with lots of ‘jobs’ of his own, volunteered to help out. He helped mow the lawn and tend the flower beds the day before the cookout. Then he came to their house the night of the cookout and helped again. He graciously started the fire, seasoned and tended the boiling pot, even started the veggies so that Patty and Parker could arrive home at the last minute to cook shrimp and serve their guests. He asked for no compensation, was a perfect gentleman, and made their job so much easier just by lending a hand.
Neighbors are one of the things that make our small community so special and unique. Lending a helping hand, sharing a cup of sugar or needed egg, looking out for them, looking in on them when they need it…these are just some of the ways we can be neighborly. If you haven’t had a chance to reach out to your neighbors, be they full time or weekenders, make time to be friendly. There are lots of places where you can be anonymous, faceless and know no one. This is not one of them. It is the best of small community America.
With all that is going on in our country, being friendly, treating those around us like neighbors, is more important than ever. We all need to find a way to reach out and get in touch with those around us. It makes a house a home and a town a community, and it just might make a stranger a neighbor and a neighbor a friend. Try it! You will be glad you did!
