Wow...
Friday night everyone was gone... I was home alone watching movies. When I went to bed, I heard doors slamming and voices and peeked outside my bedroom window to see if my neighbor was having another party. Instead, what I saw were flashing red and blue lights because there was an ambulance, another rescue vehicle, two police cars and an SUV that also had flashing red lights!! I didn't see people running every which way and didn't know what the hell was going on.
I looked at all my neighbor's houses and didn't see anybody, but, I did see the neighbor closest to me had their screen door propped open. While I watched someone shut it. These are the neighbors that got pissed off at us because when the company I worked for came and "re-did" my front yard and cleaned out the natural areas, they accidentally went onto the neighbor's property about a foot. The neighbor confronted Russ about it and then called my boss to complain that we cut down some tree or something. Anyway, my boss had to plant six fast growing shrubs to appease them and that was that. They are also the neighbors who decorate their house like the Griswald's at Christmas time - spending days getting all the lights up - they even won an "award" this past season.
Anyway, I digress. I went back to bed and didn't think it was any big deal because, I don't know, it seems when there are that many emergency vehicles around people are scurrying back and forth and there's shouting and sirens, etc. Nope, it was very quiet.
But, once again, I started hearing voices and slamming doors and commotion so I jumped out of bed again and peeked out and saw that they were bringing a stretcher up the sidewalk. About the time the stretcher got to the door, the EMT's came out with my neighbor on a stretcher and the EMT was pushing on his chest. I thought to myself, that CAN'T be good. They put him in the ambulance and I didn't see his wife get in. Then, I saw her car start pulling down the driveway to follow the ambulance. All was quiet again.
I didn't see any of my other neighbor's outside and I didn't know what to do - should I go over and see if I could help or do something? Acknowledge that something big was happening? I don't know, so, I didn't go out. I did see a police officer talk to a neighbor who WAS outside - they live across the street - not in our cul-de-sac. Then, I went back to bed.
All day yesterday I was wondering what happened. I didn't see any activity next door and figured they must all be at the hospital. So, we didn't go over or anything. This morning, reading the obits - turns out my neighbor DIED!! They just had a small blurb and we were in shock!! The guy was only 52!! I think it must have been a heart attack.
For some reason, I thought when someone died that people went over and visited the widow and children - that something would be happening. But, there was nothing, no visitors or anything. No commotion, just quiet. So, this morning, Russ and I got dressed and went over to offer our condolences. I mean, it's the least we could do. We wanted to let them know that we were thinking about them and that if they needed us to do anything, we were right next door. The oldest daughter answered the door and she was holding up very well. They are definitely a quiet family, very shy. But, they always decorated their house big time at Halloween and Christmas. They weren't the friendliest of neighbors, but, we always tried to smile and say hello. In fact, I just saw Gary twice last week when I was outside and waved and said hello. I talked to him about a tree that was dead that was on our side of the property, but, the branches were hanging over onto their side and right over their cars. I told him I was going to have it removed and he didn't seem to care very much one way or the other. All I could think of was "yeah, right, if one of those dead branches hits your car, I bet you'll care about it"!
We were always angry that they let their cats outside - cause they came into our yard and pooped and peed. They also killed birds and baby rabbits. Then, Gary built all these elaborate and pretty bird houses and we thought that was ironic because they have outside cats and we thought "what? you're building bird TRAPS so your cats can kill them"? After the "border" incident, I always said that if I saw their cats in my yard, I was going to call animal control... but, I never ever did. The cats learned to run away when we came out - plus, I let my my dog come with me to get the paper and she would chase them out of the yard.
Now, the guy is dead. Just like that. One day fine, the next day dead.
Today is deceptively sunny.
I looked at all my neighbor's houses and didn't see anybody, but, I did see the neighbor closest to me had their screen door propped open. While I watched someone shut it. These are the neighbors that got pissed off at us because when the company I worked for came and "re-did" my front yard and cleaned out the natural areas, they accidentally went onto the neighbor's property about a foot. The neighbor confronted Russ about it and then called my boss to complain that we cut down some tree or something. Anyway, my boss had to plant six fast growing shrubs to appease them and that was that. They are also the neighbors who decorate their house like the Griswald's at Christmas time - spending days getting all the lights up - they even won an "award" this past season.
Anyway, I digress. I went back to bed and didn't think it was any big deal because, I don't know, it seems when there are that many emergency vehicles around people are scurrying back and forth and there's shouting and sirens, etc. Nope, it was very quiet.
But, once again, I started hearing voices and slamming doors and commotion so I jumped out of bed again and peeked out and saw that they were bringing a stretcher up the sidewalk. About the time the stretcher got to the door, the EMT's came out with my neighbor on a stretcher and the EMT was pushing on his chest. I thought to myself, that CAN'T be good. They put him in the ambulance and I didn't see his wife get in. Then, I saw her car start pulling down the driveway to follow the ambulance. All was quiet again.
I didn't see any of my other neighbor's outside and I didn't know what to do - should I go over and see if I could help or do something? Acknowledge that something big was happening? I don't know, so, I didn't go out. I did see a police officer talk to a neighbor who WAS outside - they live across the street - not in our cul-de-sac. Then, I went back to bed.
All day yesterday I was wondering what happened. I didn't see any activity next door and figured they must all be at the hospital. So, we didn't go over or anything. This morning, reading the obits - turns out my neighbor DIED!! They just had a small blurb and we were in shock!! The guy was only 52!! I think it must have been a heart attack.
For some reason, I thought when someone died that people went over and visited the widow and children - that something would be happening. But, there was nothing, no visitors or anything. No commotion, just quiet. So, this morning, Russ and I got dressed and went over to offer our condolences. I mean, it's the least we could do. We wanted to let them know that we were thinking about them and that if they needed us to do anything, we were right next door. The oldest daughter answered the door and she was holding up very well. They are definitely a quiet family, very shy. But, they always decorated their house big time at Halloween and Christmas. They weren't the friendliest of neighbors, but, we always tried to smile and say hello. In fact, I just saw Gary twice last week when I was outside and waved and said hello. I talked to him about a tree that was dead that was on our side of the property, but, the branches were hanging over onto their side and right over their cars. I told him I was going to have it removed and he didn't seem to care very much one way or the other. All I could think of was "yeah, right, if one of those dead branches hits your car, I bet you'll care about it"!
We were always angry that they let their cats outside - cause they came into our yard and pooped and peed. They also killed birds and baby rabbits. Then, Gary built all these elaborate and pretty bird houses and we thought that was ironic because they have outside cats and we thought "what? you're building bird TRAPS so your cats can kill them"? After the "border" incident, I always said that if I saw their cats in my yard, I was going to call animal control... but, I never ever did. The cats learned to run away when we came out - plus, I let my my dog come with me to get the paper and she would chase them out of the yard.
Now, the guy is dead. Just like that. One day fine, the next day dead.
Today is deceptively sunny.