Saturday, my neighbors across the street packed up their house to move a few streets away. I felt so guilty. As long as you stay inside when a neighbor is moving, who’s to say you realize there is a moving van out front to even do the neighborly thing, like help them?
You could be busy inside with some important matters. You could be under the weather. You could be helping the kids with homework. You could be at church.
But when you’re on the front lawn, in plain view, using muscles that could be used for lifting boxes, instead rolling large balls of snow around the yard to build some sort of a ball and square and another ball that’s too heavy to lift with your teenage son…that’s some nerve.
The little man on my left shoulder says: “Geez, Amy, when you see a neighbor ACROSS THE STREET is moving, how is it that you don’t go over there and help? It’s more important to you to play in the snow?? How are you going to feel about this next summer when you see them at the pool? Hmmm????”
The little man on my right shoulder says: “You are not responsible for their choices. You are responsible for getting your teenager unplugged from the XBox and teaching him how to work as a team with a real live person, and build something in the snow before it all melts, and his chances of learning to work together are completely shot. Forever. Scarred for life. Plus, even though it looks like this snow will last ’til June, it could be gone tonight!”
I tried not to make eye contact with the neighbors every time they lugged stuff out to their truck. I felt like such an oaf, shoveling snow into tupperware molds, and effortfully packing it down with the back of my shovel (I had a technique for making blocks built to last), while they were hauling boxes and furniture.
To make matters worse, something happened to the wife’s car. A mesh of electrical wires, hung too close to the exhaust pipe, melted, and now she has no dashboard lights. Why must expensive problems arise when people are moving?? Their voices rose out on the street, which is not like them. They’re usually pretty quiet. But the stress of moving, perhaps compounded by the lack of help from nearby available…*voice trails off*…
Later, the husband returns from making the first delivery. He parks the moving van in front of our house and we chat for a bit about the unfortunate wire problem. Just before he’s about to go inside to do more heavy lifting, Sarah Silverman possesses me. My eyes are serious but my grin is impish, and I say Sarah says, very pathetically, “I can’t believe you guys aren’t over here helping us build this snow sculpture.”
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I’m still chuckling at the guilty pleasure you enjoyed at your neighbor’s expense, and the last zinger you dished out. Thanks for the laugh!
Hey, Ron,
Welcome! And thank you for totally getting my humor!
I’ve never helped a neighbor move, but no one has helped me, either. So I guess it’s even. Besides, you had a good excuse, you were busy being a good mommy.
By the way, I love that you actually have a name attached to the “other” voice.
It’s handy. Then I don’t have to take the blame. :-0
Amy – the people next door are moving out as I write! Living in Brisbane Australia I will NEVER have the problem of snow etc but I am somewhat smug about moving. In the last 25 years I have moved 15 times – only 5 of those have been by removalists – the rest – it was my back/arms moving fridges, washing machines etc. Why feel guilty? After the cute words Sarah S uttered, who moved inside first? You? and him after you brandishing umbrella stand weapons?
HA! I love that image! I’ll send the script to Sarah!
Fortunately for my backside, my neighbor knows my goofy sense of humor so he just laughed but he said it was best not to share that comment with his wife. “She wouldn’t see the humor in it.”
Oooohh, Amy, bad Ju-Ju. I don’t know, paybacks are a b-i-t-c-h! Now you can never move. That being said, maybe you could swing by their new place with a housewarming gift. You had your priorities in the right place and that is that!
I would have done the same thing. But I can tell you feel guilty about it.
Maybe I could bake them a pie! My specialty! http://www.amymusings.com/2010/02/14/jesus-never-made-a-pie-like-this-for-valentines-day/
You crack me up!!!
Thanks, Kim!
Love this!
You’re wonderfully evil, allowing Sarah access to your avatar that way
You know someday you may have to move in the middle of winter, and if such a horror should befall you you’ll feel way less guilty about this.
No sane human would volunteer to huff boxes in the snow for anyone short of a blood relative.Even then, relatives have a habit of being on vacation the few times I’ve had to move.Damn my smart relatives anyway =\
That was brililant, Marybear!
I feel justified.
you could’ve offered a trade, I’ll help you move stuff out for a little while if you help us build this sculpture for a little while…then we can have a BBQ in our new igloo hideaway because all your stuff is in boxes.
Nah. A trade would never work out in a situation like this. It’s like trading five cents for a trip to Florida. They would fail to see how helping me build ten igloos would be the equiv to my helping them with one move.
Ahhhhh yes, it’s GOOD to enjoy the snow while it lasts. I’m sure it’s not the last time someone in your neighborhood will move, giving you the chance to do the neighborly thing. However, you never know when you might see snow again, if EVER. You did the right thing.
PS: Bread pans work well too for snow blocks, just not when the snow is really wet.
XO
Like today! The snow is slush!! Unfortunate, too, because they’re all done moving.
Our neighbors seem to slink away in the dead of night, thus we never know they are gone until we realize there is open parking. That’s fine because we wouldn’t have helped them either.
nice to know there’s a slightly evil side to you wrapped up in all that niceness!
Mwuhahahahahaaaaaaaa!