“Serving overseas as a small-town boy in America has been intense, stressful and humorous! Enjoy a light-hearted story with me from our last 20 years overseas!”
—Matt
Thick walls make good neighbors
Neighborly relations are a blessing and challenge in any place one lives, as different expectations abound. It doesn’t help that we all have quirks that our family has learned to live with, but neighbors might not be as patient to endure.
Robert Frost in his poem “Mending Wall” expresses how boundaries alienate us from our neighbors. He says, “good fences make good neighbors” to be satirical, mocking our desire to separate ourselves from one another. I imagine most people today have never read the poem and may misunderstand the “good fences” phrase.
Overseas we have had neighbors that literally live above us, on each side of us and below us – apartment building living. I feel like we are a colony of swallows. Apartment building neighbor relations are like our small-town ones, but on steroids. With thin cement walls that conduct sound well, we can hear the details of neighbors’ phone conversations, couples arguing, crying children who don’t want to eat their food, sneezes, snoring and many other sounds that I don’t want to hear.
Because of the noise with people packed in our current apartment building, there are quiet hours that start at 10PM and last until 8AM during the work week and until 10AM on weekends and holidays. Quiet hours not only mean talking quietly, but no running appliances like washing machines, dryers, blenders, etc. I am a morning person and have three sons and a dog. We learned quickly that it was a losing morning battle to keep everyone quiet enough for the neighbors on weekends. We would quietly leave early and find a park or place to play until 10AM.
I think Robert Frost was right in expressing that barriers can hinder friendships with neighbors, who are more important than ever in our modern isolated living. I think he was also wrong in that fences and hedges probably save some headaches too. With living in an apartment overseas, I think, “thick walls make good neighbors.”
Something similar ever happen to you? Contact me and let me hear your story!
mattsmishaps@gmail.com Matt’s Mishaps, PO BOX 114, Grabill, IN 46741
