Cul De Sac

I live on a small Cul De Sac. Or, a circle, if you will. When I moved in there 8 years ago the neighbors were awesome. We looked out for each other, chatted often, shared meals. It was what a good neighborhood should be. One by one, those neighbors moved away, leaving me to be the resident who's live there longest.

The newer neighbors are young adults, with young children. They felt threatened by our doberman and even though she was contained in our yard, I came to be the odd man out in the neighborhood. More than once they called animal control on me, trying their best to make trouble for us. Granted she was a difficult dog. Those who took the time to get to know her made a friend for life, most never got past her protective demeanor. Breed prejudice can be an ugly thing. And yet, I understand their desire to protect their kids from this perceived threat. I imagine they call the me the crazy dog lady and all manner of other names. Even though our dobe has crossed the bridge they rarely speak to me. It's been fairly lonely in the circle because of this.

A new neighbor, who doesn't have kids, recently got a German Shepard puppy. They've lived on the circle for over a year and have done little more than an occasional wave to me. Because I have multiple dogs, and she has a new puppy (and lots of questions!) I actually had someone in the "hood" seek me out to visit. She crossed more than the street when she came over to talk to me. I don't know if she realized this, but I did, and I was so excited. It's nice to have a friend in the circle again.

Today I took Sidney over to visit her puppy, and they had a brief play date. Sid loved the chance to run like a wild child in their back yard. Penny, the 14 wk old puppy was less exuberant than Sid, but them perhaps Penny isn't part spaz. We talked dogs, butterflies and flowers. She sent me home with some blossoms from her butterfly bush after I told her about Sidney being my "Butterfly Boy".

I'm still smiling about this. That someone gave me flowers, that Sidney got to run and play, that I've become less the neighborhood menace, and more a neighbor and friend.