Neighbour Mailbag - Family Tree

Wendy writes:

I just thought I'd drop a line to say that sometimes neighbours can be the best thing that ever happened to you. We moved into our cul-de-sac 20 years ago. After having had neighbours from hell in the past, we strove to be friendly, but cool, with the peeps around us. My twin daughters were 13 years old. Two years after we moved in, we got new neighbours, with 13 and 11 year old sons. My girls, being that much older ..15 at the time.., would have nothing to do with the boys, however, I became quite friendly (chat over the fence) with their mom, despite some language difficulties (they were Czech).

Fast forward 13 years..Marta (the Mom) has gone through some difficulties including a marriage break-up and a new husband. We are still 'friendly', but not 'best friends' (I still have a fear of getting too close to next door neighbours) And guess what? One of my twins starts dating her oldest boy! Long story short, it was a little weird, especially when they were dating, but now, yup, they're married, have a two year old and 5 month old twins!

We tag team each other helping to babysit. We have a communal high chair and playpen that gets passed back and forth when the kids can get it together to get to our respective places. We have barbecues together, but funnily enough, still maintain a relationship that I would describe as just "neighbourly".

Some people might think it would be a nightmare having the 'in-laws' as a next door neighbour, but in my experience, because we were neighbours first, and established the parameters early on, it's all worked out well.

Oh, and funny thing, my other twin daughter has married a Czech boy as well, (but I don't think I could handle being a next door neighbour with his Mom and Dad)!

I'm really enjoying your blog! Started reading it today from 2002.


Great story Wendy and Thank You for sharing!