Being Neighborly

Marvin is our neighbor...our 92 year old neighbor. We have other neighbors, but Marvin is the best.

We first met Marvin and Nell when we were building our houses. Well, we weren't building them, but Harry was. Harry would work on something in our house, then run across the cul-de-sac and work on Marvin and Nells...and so it went. We became close as time went by...we had one set of neighbors move (Carol and Dennis) and one set of neighbors died (Dorothy Jean and Don)... the rest of us have been steady. The newest people in the neighborhood have been here at least 10 years! John and Cheryl have been here nearly as long as us. We feed their animals and they feed Eskie when either of us are gone. It's the neighborly way to live...we love it!

A little over two years ago, Nell died of lung cancer. We were all devastated when she got sick and heartbroken over her passing...and Marvin being alone. They were best friends...I think they had been married 57 years? That's when we discovered the sweetest meaning of being neighborly. We started having Marvin over as often as we could...usually once or twice a week. We average about once a week now. We started this to try and lift his spirits, to keep him from being so lonely, to make sure he had some good meals. Well, we became the recipients, not the givers. We learned to stop...stop, relax, and spend some good ole sitting-around-visiting time with a neighbor. Marvin, Judy, and Ron

We have grown into a sort of routine. Marvin comes over about 5:30 and has a beer and nuts/trail mix with Ron. I'm usually finishing up dinner. We all just hang out around the kitchen visiting...catching up on each others families. Around 6 - 6:30, we eat dinner. Marvin is a guinea pig, along with Ron, for all my new recipes from Cooking Light. He doesn't seem to mind...he just isn't crazy about squash. Actually tonight he told me he wasn't too crazy about polenta either.

After dinner, out comes the CRIBBAGE BOARD. Now Marvin is THE master of cribbage. He can count cards before I can even notice which cards are there, much less count them! We usually play 3 games. Marvin use to always win...and Ron would win a respectable amount. Every once in a while I'd win a game, but not often. I recently was on a streak...that felt exhilarating! The last two times, we've each won one.
Ron likes lots of toppings on his ice cream...Marvin says he's just "plain vanilla". They both love oatmeal cookies!

Marvin also really enjoys Camilla...and Camilla enjoys Marvin. Camilla's cancer fight has touched Marvin, probably because of Nell's fight, and also because he just adores her. We've had some game nights,- Marvin, Camilla, Ron and I,- around the fireplace...of course, Camilla usually wins. It is a rare night with Marvin that he doesn't ask about Camilla.

Ron and I have adopted Marvin as part of our family. When Joshua came home from Iraq and we had a big crab feed for him, Marvin was here. He's also a fellow Marine! My buddy, Jake, and her husband Jim (also a fellow Marine) and my buddy Terri (as in the Terri who drives the boat) and her husband Hollis (another fellow Marine)were also here for the crab feed. As a matter of fact, Jim caught the crab and Jake cooked the crab...and they brought it over for us all to celebrate Joshua's return.
Jim, Joshua, Hollis, and Marvin...all Marines

That's being neighborly!