Having Good Neighbors

A treasure map of memories, translated…

We Weren’t the Only Family Who’d Benefitted, as that Flood Came into the Connected Bedroom of the House, and Didn’t Recede Until Three Days Later, the Entire Village That Were Dodging the Flood Were Taken in by Grandma Luan, and, Up Until This Day, the Entire Village is Still Filled with Respect for Their Family………

There was that low bussing from the water tower of the bakery next door, it’d interfered with ALL our sleep, and, after we’d made the complaints, although the homeowner did find someone to look at it, but it’d not improved one bit, we’d gone to an intermediation, the elderly bakery owner called me unreasonable, his daughter-in-law soothed him, said, “Let’s hear what she has to say first.” I’d told them gently, “I’d not wanted to have this badness between the neighbors, I’d still wanted to buy the baked goods from you”, the daughter-in-law smiled lightly, “We’d called the plumbers to fix it, but it didn’t get fixed up, can you find someone to fix it then?”, I’d found a plumber, and, so, this issue was, resolved, quickly enough.

The next time I’d gone to buy some breads, the daughter-in-law asked me, “Are there still noises?”, “Not anymore, thank you, for helping to resolve the issues.” Later on, the elderly owner started greeting me too, and it’d made me realized, that having that genuine thought can totally resolve the issues, and it’d reminded me of my childhood neighbor.

from the papers…

Grandma Luan Who’s Rich and Giving

My mother had told me about how the neighbors in our old home had been very passionate in helping one another, “Once I was in the ditches, doing the laundry with a group of women, at age three, you’d, fallen into the crap pits, you’d stunk.”, that was, at the start of 1960s, when we’d needed to heat up the charcoals for hot water, and, if one needed a bath quickly, then, we can only use the water heater that has the hot water ready. “Thankfully everybody chipped in, went from house to house, to borrow the water heater, so, we could get the stink out of you.”

The helpfulness of neighbors is most apparent in the family of Grandma Luan. On the year that my youngest sister was born, the autumn typhoons hit us hard, the raging winds and the pouring rains, our house shook, and the water slowly, seeped in from the doors. As we were all running around crazy, using the rags to stuff up the cracks, all of a sudden, we’d heard someone, banging on the doors, it was, Grandma Luan’s youngest son, in his straw suit and farmer’s hat, ran to us in a panic, “The water had already flooded up to the banks, come to my house for shelter.”, after that, he’d run off, to notify other neighbors. Grandma Luan who’s a window was the richest person in our village, her two-story brick house was believed to be a mansion in the villagers’ minds, and, his two gently sons are, scholars that the neighbors envied.

and this, is what the interactions look like, photo from online…

Dad tied all our belongings in front of his chest, carried my two-year-old second sister, told me who was a crybaby, “Don’t worry, daddy’s here.”, my seven-year-old older brother clung on tightly to my father’s coat, carefully, trekked across the yellow muddied water, ran to Grandma Luan’s estate. As Grandma Luan took us kids in, he’d told dad, go get your wife and your baby over now.” Seeing how the water is rising up so fast it’d got to my father’s chest level, he’d still calmly, helped my mother who had my youngest sister in her arms across, and finally, we were all safe and sound. That very evening, Grandma Luan even let us sleep in her beautiful redwood bed.

Not only our family benefitted, the flood flooded over our open room, and the water didn’t recede until three days later, and the villages who were escaping the flood relied on Grandma Luan’s assistance, and even now, the villagers still showed a ton of respects to the family.

The Neighbors Helped in Catching a Thief

As I’d started off in the first grade, the whole family moved into the city, in that age of deprivation, my older brother and I would often squat with our bowls, in front of the house with the only black-and-white television on the streets, and, a very blessed looking elderly woman would always smile toward us and said, “Come inside children and watch the television!”, pointed to the small stool she’d set up inside her house, she’d not looked down on how poor we are.

And on top of that, there was, a popsicle factory owner in our neighborhood, the owner would often give us yummy popsicles, one right after another, he’d never counted them. The richness of the creamy taste, I’d still remembered well, and I’d also remembered how happy the man looked, as we savored the popsicles too. And, because of their generosities, I’d learned, the joys of sharing great things with others as well.

One day, my dad received a notice, that he’d needed to be away from home for a month, he’d asked my youngest uncle to come to the cloth shop to help out. One evening, we were sleeping on the second floor we’d heard him hollered, “THIEF!”, not long thereafter, the neighbors came, with clubs and bats, my mother worked up the courage, went downstairs to answer the door, and, our neighbors rushed in, with their weapons in hand, “Where’s the thief?”, my mother woke my uncle who’d fallen asleep on the table, he’d looked confused, with sleepiness in his eyes. “Where’s the thief?”, after they’d inquired more closely, they’d realized, that my uncle was dream talking, my mother was so embarrassed that she’d wanted to dig a hole in the ground and hide in it, but the neighbors consoled with her, “Everything’s fine, everybody’s okay”. Later on, my mother feared, that one day, a thief may really come, so, she’d, installed alarm on the doors. Early in the morning one day, the alarm sounded off, the thief got scared and carried the door frames away, then, ran outside, dad and the neighbors chased after him, in the end, they were able to recover our door at the patch before the train stations.

One day, a friend with a lot of amazing neighbors told me in a heartfelt manner, “You can’t buy good neighbors with money”. So very true indeed, it’s a blessing, having amazing neighbors. And, I had become, more than blessed, every place I’d moved in, I always have neighbors who lent a helping hand, and they’d inspired me, to become better neighbor too, to be a good neighbor in my own neighbors’ minds!

not my picture.

So, this, is the experiences of having amazing neighbors who are strangers, but cared for you just the same, and, the individual IS blessed, to have such amazing neighbors, and, having great neighbors is extremely rare these days, because everybody cares about oneself in this modern day world, and, it’s hard to find a place with good people who cared to live around…