day seven: won't you be my neighbor?

Fred McFeely Rogers (A.K.A. Mister Rogers) passed away 9 years ago this week. As a fellow minister and cardigan-lover, I thought it appropriate to pay tribute to this legend of public television by being a good neighbor myself.

Hi, neighbor!

A young woman recently moved into the house behind ours, and another couple bought a house a few doors down. We have seen them around and met the woman behind us, Stephanie. We hadn't yet met the couple a few doors up, but we saw them when the house sold and when they moved in.

We thought we would do something to welcome them all to the neighborhood. So I stayed up late last night to bake chocolate chip cookies (sans nuts).

Chocolate chip cookies are my drug of choice. I'm addicted. I eat them just because they make me feel good. It doesn't matter whether they are homemade Tollhouse or store-bought break-and-bakes, I have no self-control. So after licking the mixing beaters, eating a few spoonfuls of dough, and downing half a dozen warm cookies out of the oven, I wrapped up some cookies to take to our new neighbors (leaving a few for breakfast this morning, of course).

We took the cookies by this afternoon, and both Stephanie and Brent (the man of the couple...the woman wasn't home) were very thankful.

This is the first time we've done something like this, although we've had lots of new people move into the neighborhood in the three years we've lived here. In fact, most of the time we don't meet them until months after they've moved in, when we just happen to see each other outside in our yards or walking. And I don't think we're the exception.

Why is it that we don't make a point to introduce ourselves? What is it that makes a "comfortable distance" so comfortable? Do we want to "test the waters" first? Get an idea of who they are? Make sure they're not going to mess up the neighborhood? Do we want to keep to ourselves so that they will hopefully keep to themselves and not intrude on our lives?

I don't know why we haven't done it before, but I'm glad we did this time and I hope we will in the future. I'm not under any illusions that we're going to be best friends with Stephanie or with Brent and his significant other. But I think it is telling that instead of referring to them as "the woman/couple who live(s) in that house," we call them "neighbors."

a lovely dinner

Valentine’s Day 2005 – I had the first date with my now-wife, Suzy, at Rene’s Steakhouse (now called Larkin’s on the River). Yes, I was that douchey guy who took girls out to the nicest place I could think of for the first date, even though I had no business being there. To show you how ridiculous it was for us to be there, we had to hurry through our dinner so I could get back to campus for an intramural basketball game. But hey…it worked! We began dating and were married four years later.

Valentine’s Day 2011 – Sure enough, we were. After multiple pregnancy tests of all different kinds, we were actually, positively pregnant! And to find out on Valentine’s Day! So our dinner plans were going to be extra special. We returned to Larkin’s on the River and enjoyed an amazing meal – a wedge salad for me and a house salad with spiced pecans for Suzy; perfectly cooked medium-rare filet mignon, finished with butter; oven-baked four cheese macaroni, with breadcrumb topping; and smoked gouda mashed potatoes. The whole meal was delicious—warm flavors and savory goodness—and a great way to remember the beginning of our relationship and celebrate the new beginning of being pregnant.

Valentine’s Day 2012 – We’ve got a four month old baby, but we made reservations weeks ago. The babysitters (i.e. grandparents) are ready to take care of our little man and we are ready for a great dinner at Nantucket. We haven’t eaten there before, so we are very excited to try it out. Unfortunately, Suzy is suffering from a terrible cold (that I gave her), so we opt to stay in. I pick up take-out from Thaicoon—pineapple curry with chicken and panang curry with pork—and we sit on the floor to eat, playing with the baby between bites. We finish off our romantic dinner with a dozen break-and-bake cookies…classy, I know. At one point, Suzy looks at me and says, “I'm gonna kill you for giving me this cold.” I love you, too, honey. Happy Valentine’s Day.

While we are laying in bed later that night, we joke about how “memorable” this Valentine’s Day would be. And I agree. I honestly think it will be. Obviously it was nothing like the meals we had at nice restaurants in years past, but it was still a lovely dinner: literally, a dinner defined by love.

As I’m writing this, I’m watching a story on Rock Center with Brian Williams about couples that celebrated Valentine’s Day at White Castle (check out the video clip here). My first reaction is, “Are you kidding me?! Why would they go to White Castle? Who would want to celebrate Valentine’s Day like that?” Then I think of how Suzy and I “celebrated” this year, and it made sense. It doesn’t matter where you are or what you eat…you can still have a lovely dinner.

Got any memorable (or not-so-memorable) Valentine's dinners?