It’s always risky moving into a new place because you just can’t be sure what the neighbors are going to be like. When you live in a row home, the stakes get even higher. Years ago, we moved into a 17th century house that was designed as 2 separate homes, with a very thin wall separating our side from our neighbor’s side. Talk about a high stakes neighbor gamble!
Fortunately for us, we lucked out big time! On the other side of the wall were two of the best neighbors anybody could possibly have; Shirley and Ron Nelson. These people were awesome!
Ron passed away several years ago. This week, we attended Shirley’s funeral service after she passed last week.
My family loved and appreciated them both. My daughters knew them almost their entire lives. Our dogs Zoey and Mia (both now deceased) had such a special connection with Ron and especially Shirley, that we knew they would rather be living with the Nelson’s instead of next door with us.
Sometimes the best way to describe people is through stories about them. So here are a few of my favorite Shirley stories.
The Garden Hose
I can be short tempered and impatient at times, especially when it comes to dealing with chores around the house. The garden hose wasn’t working right because it was all knotted up, and I was in no mood for it. I was in the backyard trying to untangle the thing when Shirley came out into her yard. I didn’t see her. I was frustrated to the point of throwing the damn hose around the yard, cursing at it. When I eventually saw Shirley standing on her porch laughing at me, she calmly asked, “Are you having trouble with that thing?”
GrandmaMa
We had 2 small dogs that lived for about 15 years. They were sisters from the same litter, and both Ron and Shirley loved them as much as we did. But Shirley had a special connection with them (Zoey & Mia). When we were gone from the house for too many hours or went on vacation, Ron & Shirley would bring the dogs over to their place and watch them until we got home. Sometimes, Shirley would just call us and say, “I’m coming over to take the dogs for a bit.” She would let herself into our house (she had a key) and surprise the pups- they were like kids getting a special visit from Santa Claus. Somehow Shirley ended up with the nickname GrandmaMa, as the dogs “grandmother”.
At one point, my family took a 5 week road trip out west and the dogs got to stay at “GrandmaMa Shirley’s Luxury Dog Hotel” for over a month straight. The kids, Tammy, and I were missing the dogs by the time we rolled back into town, and were looking forward to seeing them. We pulled up in front of our place in the early evening and almost immediately knocked on Shirley’s door to get the pups.
When they first saw us, they ran out of the house toward us, and jumped around and licked each of us as we fawned over them. But it was short lived. After only about a minute-long reunion, both dogs turned around and ran straight back into Shirley’s house. One crawled under the sofa and the other crawled behind it. We couldn’t even lure them out with lunch meat! The kids were totally bummed out. Eventually the dogs did come out and come home, but they made their point. We always suspected they liked Shirley better, but now we knew. We don’t blame the dogs
For another, sadder but still beautiful story about Mia & Shirley- read this.
We were very lucky to have both Shirley and Ron as neighbors and friends. Sometimes, moving into basically the same house with a couple of random new neighbors really works out!
Five O'Clock Shadow 