While watching Joe adorably hammer away at some posts and chicken wire like John Henry's Italian cousin, I suddenly realized how much this new place is already starting to not only look like home, but feel like it too.
It's not just the actual townhouse. It's got to be partly due to how friendly our neighbors are. But then again, I might not have even had the guts to strike up a conversation with them if little Georgia wasn't around. I had no idea how dogs (among fellow dog lovers) really can bring people together.
Joe did a great job already introducing our little bean to anyone who walked by while I was away. So much so in fact, that a few nights ago while taking her out to do her business one last time before bed (at around 10 or 11) two separate people came up to the yard and called out Georgia's name. I was pleased but surprised as well. These people didn't even know who I was, yet they remembered Georgia. I was a tad anxious, still unsure how she reacts to strangers. But fortunately, she just wags her curly-cue tail and flattens her ears to be petted. I would normally think it would just be the novelty of seeing a dog that would bring people forward, but truthfully, I have met all these people's dogs as well: there's Raven, the Boston terrier across the street, Buddy the cavalier spaniel, Cedric the pug, and Cocoa Bean, a border collie mix. And those are just the dogs that have walked by here to stop and say hello. There are tons of dogs (and ironically, hardly any children), but the worst part is while I seem to remember the dogs I can not remember the owners names to save me.
I was especially thrilled to come home from work one day and see Georgia playing with Raven in our yard while Joe and Raven's owner sipped beer on the lawn chairs. For one I was happy to see Joe bonding with a neighbor already but also I hadn't been able to see her really interact with another dog ever, so to see her hopping and chasing Raven, I dunno, made me feel like I was watching a kid walk for the first time. Awww really? Yes really, go ahead and call me obsessed and ridiculous, it's TRUE.
But I don't think I realized how lucky we were to have these kinds of neighbors until some recent drama took place. Now, because the yard is (almost) completely enclosed I felt fine letting her out the door to play without a leash on, figuring she wouldn't try to escape....let me say again, I FELT that she wouldn't escape.
After work one day I called Joe and found out Georgia had gotten out. "What? What do you mean?" I said frantically. "It's ok, a neighbor found her and brought her back," Joe said calmly.
Apparently he had nodded off on the couch and she just slipped right through the small gap between the gate and the gate door. He hadn't even realized she was gone until the neighbor returned her.
A couple of days later, the same neighbor was walking by, said hello to Georgia and informed me that she had been the rescuer. I thanked her profusely and was genuinely touched that a perfect stranger would not only let us know she was loose but actually try and rescue her.
We vowed to make sure we were more cautious with her, hence Joe's chicken wire barricade. But it's still comforting knowing that you have neighbors who care. It's weird having neighbors at all, at least the kind that you actually meet and not duck eye contact with while scurrying into your apartment.
But the dog definitely helps as an ice-breaker, as well as the nice big yard we have now. Anyone who's shown any interest in us has been thoroughly invited to participate in the many barbecues we intend to have. So who knows if they will really like us. Maybe we'll just keep luring them in with our dog and yard. Either way, it feels good to be neighborly.
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