Years ago, when the cheerful yellow home next to us was a drab group house, we first met someone who has become one of our best family friends. On cool summer evenings, or an early Spring day like this one, I can recall the sound of Andrea’s infectious laughter rolling through our upstairs hallway window, or into our family room from two sides, as she and her friends enjoyed a lively visit on the front porch. I miss the sound of her warm, carefree heart, and we all miss the days of having Andrea right next door.
These days, when I’m outside gardening on such a day as this one, or when we have the windows on three sides flung wide open so our family room feels like a screened-in porch, I hear the happy vocalizations of Trevor, from across the back fences of Nelson and 16th Streets. His lilting descants express the joy he feels from the sun and the cool breeze; or from the swing, the hammock, and other instances of the sensory input his body craves. At 14, Trevor uses a letter board to communicate his thoughts and dreams. But I hear his soul in the soft, wafting breezes while I’m communing with soil and sun.
Like that old piano duet from childhood that we all learned to play, these familiar and uplifting neighbor-sounds are comforting, too.
This post reminds me that there is always joy in connection and connection in joy!
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