Neighbors

This last Sunday, I noticed some cracking in the ceiling of my garage. We've lived in our current home longer than any other home we've lived in (we've purchased three homes in our married lives, we bought a home in Ogden, where we lived from 2002 to 2006, then a home in Elwood, where we lived from 2006 to 2013, and now we've been in our current home since 2015), so this was a new experience for me and I wasn't sure if this was indicative of some kind of problem or just a normal part of home ownership.

I texted my neighbor Rob on Monday.

Me: Hey Rob, sorry to bother you. I noticed this in my ceiling in my garage and just don't know how big of a concern it is. Any thoughts?

Rob: Hmm, looks like cracking. I can take a look tonight when I get home.

That evening, right after dinner, Rob was at my door, along with his son Zach, who just got his general contractor license. They came into the garage, surveyed the damage, and quickly reassured me that they had dealt with the same thing at their house and that it was most likely just part of normal house settling.

That was really all I was looking for, was whether or not it was a problem, but Rob and Zach wouldn't leave it at that. They insisted they could fix it. Within a few minutes, Zach was in my attic with a flashlight and other tools and Rob had brought over his saw along with a few boards of various lengths. In no time at all, they had cut a board to the needed length, attached it to a truss in the attic, and then screwed the drywall on the ceiling into the bottom of the board. When they came into the house to get into the attic, they saw that we had something similar in our kitchen ceiling and insisted they could fix that too. Zach has been back a few times this week, to apply plaster and texture it to complete the repair.

This is far from the first time Rob has come to my rescue.

Feb 1, 2018

Me: Hey Rob, are you around? Can you call me if convenient?

Our downstairs shower was stuck with the water on and we weren't really sure what to do about it. We had also stripped out the screw on the faucet trying to get it off because we didn't have an allen wrench of the right size. Rob was headed to a basketball game, but came over, helped us cut the faucet off and told us the part we needed to get and replace to fix the problem.

Nov. 18, 2019 (9:13 PM)

Me: Sorry to bother you so late. Are you around? Do you have a 1" crescent wrench?

I think this was just a running toilet, a problem with the flapper. The old flapper had to be cut off in order to replace it. Rob was over within ten minutes, helping me fix the problem. If I recall correctly, he also bought us a new flapper the next day at Home Depot (he just happened to need to go there anyway, or at least that was his story).

May 13, 2020

Me: Are you home? If you have a minute, I have another problem in my backyard and could use some advice.

Rob: I am on my way home still, I should be home shortly. Absolutely, I would love to come over and help. What is it in regards to? Drip lines? Sprinklers? Or do you need me to dig a hole?

(As Nate Bargatze says, digging a hole is impossible, and here Rob is offering to dig one without even being asked).

Oct 10, 2021

Me: I'm sorry to bother you on the Sabbath. Do you happen to be home?

Rob: Yes, I am home.

Me: Ok if I call you?

Rob: Yes

I don't even remember what this one was about, but I know that whatever it was, Rob helped me with it.

May 5, 2023 (9:22 PM)

Me: Hey Rob, are you home? And awake?

Rob: I am awake, but I'm not home. I'm on my way home. I should be there in about 25 minutes. What's up?

Me: Can I call you?

Rob: You bet!

I had had some topsoil delivered on the road in front of my house and was worried about someone not seeing it and running into it. Rob helped me put some reflectors on the pile so people would be able to see it.

Rob, his wife Jenny, and his whole family have been wonderful neighbors to us over the years. Hopefully everyone has the opportunity to have a neighbor like Rob.

As I've been thinking about the blessing Rob and his family have been to us over the years, I've also thought about other neighbors I've had in my life.

I can't talk about neighbors without mentioning my "neighbors to the south" for the past nearly nine years. We live next-door to my brother/brother-in-law and Jeanell's sister/sister-in-law and their kids. Though with each of our busy lives, we don't interact and spend as much time together as you might think, they are always there for us when we need them and I love having them so close. Our backyards are adjoining with no fence in between and I love that our kids (the self-proclaimed "doubins", for double cousins) can and frequently do go back and forth between houses through our backyards. I love hearing a knock at the backdoor, opening it up, and seeing Cate there to inquire if Nellie is home.

One of my favorite memories was when Emma (my niece who is the same age as my daughter Lila) was over late one night as they were waiting for Mr. (Matt) Price to send the email for the casting for the production of the musical "Freaky Friday" that they were going to be a part of at their school (Excelsior Academy). It got to be after 11:00 and they finally gave up and decided the email wasn't going to come that night and Emma left to go home, through the backyard. Ten seconds after she left, the email came, and Lila sprinted out, with Emma sprinting back, meeting in the backyard and opening the email together excitedly. Lila was cast as the mother and Emma as the daughter. They were so happy.

Who knows what life will bring, but I hope that we are next-door neighbors for many years to come. 

In Elwood, we lived next to Kirk and Vickie Day. Kirk had built the house we lived in as a spec home and was always there to help us out in any way we needed. He poured our back patio and a basketball court in our backyard (at a heavily discounted rate). He helped me put together and install the basketball hoop I bought for our court. He would plow the snow in front of our house with his tractor. He helped me numerous times with water getting into our basement.

And of course there are the neighbors we had at the home I grew up in on Eastmoor Drive. Tom Tripp and Lyle Lawton have been our neighbors for years and have helped us in so many ways over the years. Tom puts up and takes down my mom's Christmas lights (among many other things) and Lyle recently helped my brothers and me put down plastic and rock in the flowerbeds between the wall and the sidewalk north of my mom's house. Lyle is over 80. I remember Lynn Young (who lived behind us on Main Street in my younger years) fixing our old Blue Bomb years ago.

My dad went to prison for a year (maybe at some point I'll get into that story, but I won't go into details here) when I was a junior in high school. There are two people in particular I remember helping us at that time (though I know there were many).

Jerry Aldridge would take care of our cars and make sure they were running well. When we would be planning a trip to visit Dad (he was at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas), Jerry would come and make sure the Komfort Koach (the big blue van we drove at that time) was ready for the trip.

But maybe the most selfless neighbor we had was Warren Archer, who lived next-door to the south (along with his wife Edwina and mother Mildred).  Warren would participate in hikes to Deseret Peak well into his 70s, often wearing shorts that some might describe as a tad too short.

When my dad went to prison, Warren, who was already retired at the time, worked the job my dad had prior to going to prison in order to hold it for him when he got back, and gave the earnings from that job to my mom to help pay the bills. Like Rob, Warren also knew how to fix anything. I didn't live at home at the time, but a favorite story my brother Kevin has related was how some kind of leak sprang in our basement bathroom and Kevin was trying to stop it and yelled to Brent and McKell (my two youngest siblings), "Go get Warren!"

In the age of social media, I find it easy to get caught up in the things we don't agree on. Our differences in beliefs on politics, religion, etc. can make us feel divided. But I think we need to remember that people are generally good and are willing to go out of their way for the benefit others. So grateful for good neighbors.

Zach is to the right of me and Rob is kneeling on the right.