A Family In A Strange Land

Hi everyone and happy new week to us all.
It's another week to kick off in writing and gaining knowledge from ourselves.

Right from time, I get use to new people on time when I'm there with my twin sister because of her own personality since we were always together but things changed and reality about myself dawned on me when we got separated.
I love to make new friends but I kind of do connect with people fast virtually but when it comes to physical (Oops), it's kind of slow or hard for me to quickly connect and make friends on time (emphasis on the on time)

Associating with my neighbors depends on who I've come to study him or her to be and I think that has kind of helped me so far in managing the kind of people I deal with when it comes to living in an apartment.
I've had neighbors whom I took as close relatives or friends and I've had some whom I've just had to greet from afar and go my way. It all depends on who they are.

I've lived with guys who would make a whole building difficult and unbearable to live in, having their deck electronics increased to the highest level at as late as 4am in the morning (I mentioned late because they might have started before 4am at times), smokes filling up the stairs and being choked by it since it's a shared flat apartment with their overnight babes shouting to get her work payment. Still, I maintained my peace going in and coming out till I moved out despite the fights between them and co-neighbors.

The easiest people I'm quick to interact with as neighbors are wives or mothers, probably because of their kids and there was a time I got stuck in between two of them not knowing they were keeping malice with each other. It was a fight no one ever expected for it to happen because they were once close neighbors since it was a face me I slap you apartment.
I was serving then for my NYSC and probably I was expected to pick sides which I possibly cant do.

On a fateful day, In a rush to leave for work, I forgot to remove the key to my door after locking. I didn't realize this from 9am till past 6pm that I got home and wanted to take my key from my bag. I was perplexed and disturbed not until the neighbor whom I was supposed to pick sides against came saying she helped me remove the key to prevent the bad street boys from accessing my room when everyone is out.

I was so glad and really thanked her, not because I had many things to be scared of that they would carry but my pot of soup that I just made and food stuffs which will be the things they would aim at first since it was day time.

Generally because I won't say most times, we need to be at peace with our neighbors, not because of anything else but because they are the first family we would see in that environment for whatsoever that happens to us either good or the opposite.

I remember the midnight that I lost my mum, there probably might have been some regrets and more unnecessary what ifs if we had not received help from a neighbor. We might have regretted our whole life for not getting another car for my Dad after his last car got faulty, tagging my mum's death to unavailability of a vehicle but we received help even at that midnight.
Before families came from far or near, neighbors were there for us if we were bad neighbors to one another.

The way I gladly anticipate and wait for my neighbors food when there's a general festival will look alarming to a stranger lol, but most times, the show of love through the act of food sharing doesn't mean our neighbors are beggars or we aren't contented with ours if we collect what they share with us but just to show how much we care about each other as long as we trust and love ourselves to be neighbors.

Festive periods, we will cook and share with neighbors and vice versa. Giving it out doesn't mean you looked down on them and Do I know if my food (no matter how small it is) is their hope for that day? This is a testimony I have once gotten from someone who I thought always had enough, which really changed my perspective since then of not waiting until you have it big before you give out to a person in need or think people have it all even when your mind keeps hitting you hard to do it.

Neighbors are like families and we should treat ourselves like one irrespective of our tribes and culture. They should be able to stand in for us even before our biological relations comes around speaking for us.

It is not polite that rain beats our dried clothes on the laundry wire just because we are not home and our attitudes wouldn't allow them help us out till we arrive.

I'll be dropping my 🖊️ here on the Hive Learners community prompt

Thanks for reading through 🤗

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