He lives right next door. Our yards join. I have lived in this home for just over 4 months and I have never even laid eyes on the man. The winter was rough and long and to tell you the truth spring has been a little less than appealing. The weather just hasn't been all that conducive to being neighborly. I understand.
I finally met the gal across the street and the family whose yard joins "mystery neighbor" on the other side. Apparently they saw him once, but not again and expressed that if they passed him on the street, they would have no idea who he was.
So today, while working in the yard on the side of the house closest to his, I hear his car pull in and the garage door raise. Hoping this might be the chance to meet him, I take a quick peek his way just as he pulls into the garage. I wait expectantly for that moment when I might call out a cheery hello. Disappointment replaces expectation as he begins to drop the door the second the tail of his car is clear. I don't even think he had turned off the ignition quite yet.
My heart began to ache for him. What causes a person to desire such aloneness? He lives alone in a relatively large home. Obviously he wants nothing to do with his neighbors, but who does he want something to do with?
Maybe his life is great and full outside the confines of this subdivision. Perhaps he has a great circle of friends and coworkers. It is possible that the rest of his world is busy and hectic and he wants his time at home to be quiet place of refuge away from the craziness of life. Perhaps.
Something tells me, though, that his "hiding" goes much deeper. I wonder how his thinking might change if he knew his neighbor cared.
