Really neighborly

On Saturday I went over to the home of the people who live directly behind me, for a cookout.

As you all may be aware, the next day, Sunday, I hosted my family and my brother-in-law's family for a cookout here.

Let me say first that I don't know my neighbors behind me that well. They are a married couple, without children, and we share a fence. Every once in a while, as I'm hanging clothes on the line, Vincent's head will pop up over the fence to say "hi" and every so often Janice and I chat briefly.

Anyway, they offfered me use of their tables when they found out I was having a cookout the next day. On Sunday, with the help of another neighbor, the (fortunately light) tables were handed over the fence.

Then Vincent asked me if I could use some marinated steak tips left over from their cookout. They gave me not only the tips, but a bag of macaroni salad, a package of corn on the cob, and a significant quantity of rice and beans because I had told Janice it reminded me of my childhood in Barbados (Vincent is from Jamaica, and his mother made the rice and beans).

A cooler appeared in my yard, filled with iced beer.

So this weekend, not only did I get the cool t-shirt, but I got a whole lot of neighbor love. Plus their cookout was a blast - and mine wasn't so bad, either!

This was a good weekend. I'm going to be paying it forward.