...and a reasonable dose of friendly neighbor judgement.

I see you taking out the trash even though at times, far from a responsible daily disposal, your appearance is rare that one wonders if there is a hole in the kitchen for automatic dumping.

I hear your giggles, laughter and screams of amusement (hopefully) and share in your joy especially when we leave each other alone or wave at a safe distance, occasionally. I share in your despair when a neighbor decides to leave their lawn wild and free that you scream at the fleeting sight of a slithery thing only to realize it's just a tall grass wiggling awkwardly in the shade of a tree.

I feel your happiness when the banana trees that decorate the perimeter of your home are growing even when you engage in absolutely nothing to tend to them after planting. It's nice that with our glorious weather, we can let nature do her thing and give us bananas.

I feel your subtle contempt when a next door neighbor's method of transportation is a heart-thumping motorbike that reverberates the frail bones in your body while you try to nap or sleep.

I understand your need for privacy when you just want to be left alone trimming the bushes with a pair of wonky scissors or hanging wet laundry out without being concerned with putting up polite neighborly airs just to mention that the weather is really sunny today as you spot me.

I totally get it when your closest friends and families come to visit, the commotion it entails is never on you because once they go straight home which is in a neighborhood located far, far away, I know, it will be peaceful again. And you will finally delight in getting back to deal with the overflowing piles laundry and garbage that might contain the lethal spiky shells that used to contain fleshy and nose-assaulting durian fruits.

I apologize for our cats making your lawn their favorite spot to relieve themselves and can quite understand why you might wish for a better less cat-friendly neighbor but for now, we can both accept that I am the best there is and still remain comparatively far better than your other next-door neighbor that I heard had burned your pine tree purposefully by the gate. How dare they!?

I realize our intricate connection even though it is on a neighborly basis and I'm grateful to live in a mostly tranquil setting with your presence. I do hope that it is also a reflection of our own inner peace instead of a facade as the latter as we have come to learn, will only crumble.

I am so very thankful to the garbage transportation workers for their diligence in keeping our neighborhood sparkling but not too, too clinically clean so that other non-human creatures can live among us too. I'm especially aware of long-tailed mongooses that come out to feast at night and I thank them for refraining from battling with my cats although Tidus, my grey cat had been sprayed with skunk perfume and thankfully recovered from the traumatic incident.

I thank you for plucking the Bilimbi fruits that grow outside the gate because mother nature is a generous dame and she grows more than we need for the rare dishes that we cook. Please do help yourselves with no worries that I may startle you with a garden broom. Those extremely-sour fruits add great flavors into curries. While you're there with a basket, please pluck the tropical Gooseberry fruits next to the Bilimbi tree for they are just too many! They too are sour and make a great alternative for when you've run out of tamarind.

With that said, we have finally reached the end of this long-winded message that no neighbor of mine may get a chance to read but if you are somehow my real-life neighbor, then I would appreciate that you keep a quiet and kind distance as you receive my love from this entry.

Image Credit: Dariusz Grosa