I am feeling sad tonight....my really cool neighbor is moving away......

[CaliforniaPeggy]

She, her husband and their kids have been the best neighbors we've had in a long, long time. But now they are relocating far away, and all the fun, informal chats and hugs are over........ :cry:


Please, please help me feel better tonight.....

[RevCheesehead]

1. Hi, Peggy.

As someone who has had to move a lot (damned itineracy), I truly understand the pain of moving away from people that I have grown to love. Thankfully, long-distance calls are cheaper than they once were, and the internets have made communication so much easier.

I can't imagine you being lonely. It might not help much IRL, but please know how much you are loved and adored right here.

Lots and lots of :hug::hug::hug::hug::hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear Rev.....

Thank you for coming to my aid tonight.....

And everything you've said is so true.

However, nothing beats standing in my driveway, talking to my neighbor while her kids run around, having fun. NOTHING...

It makes me cry just to think of this......

I know I have a lot of very special and loving friends here, and believe me, it does help a whole lot......

:loveya: :grouphug:

[RevCheesehead]

6. There will be others who will do that.

Hell, if I lived next to you, I'd be there all the time!

But you're right, it doesn't take away the hurt of your friend's move. I will keep you in thought (and prayer, if you don't mind).

:hug::loveya:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. Prayers are always good, my dear Rev.......

I appreciate your very kind thoughts and words on my behalf, as well...

And yes, others will fill the void. But right now, I need the support of my dear friends right here...

:grouphug:

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Oh Peggy how sad

Good neighbors are so rare anymore.

My favorite neighbor story - I was a kid in the 60s and we lived in a Beaver Cleaver lilly white suburb. One day a black man my dad worked with came by our house (I don't remember why) and he and my dad sat out on the patio and had a beer together. The next day, the asshole next door came and knocked on our door and asked my dad who that man was he saw on our patio the day before. My dad said oh I was just coming over to tell you we sold our house to him.

The asshole didn't as much as wave at us ever again.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. My dear proud2Blib.....

What a TERRIFIC story! Thank you for sharing it.....

And yes, good neighbors are a rarity. My gf and I hit it off really well, God knows why.....

We didn't talk much, but when we did, it was always fun and meaningful. Tonight before she came over to say goodbye, she'd left a message on our machine. In it, one of the things she said was she wished we could be transplanted along with them to their new home......HOw about that?!

We had such good times...good times.....*sigh*

[chknltl]

4. CP....advise me here.

Is it me or does change bring more and more sadness to us as we age? I am about to move too, I am profoundly saddened by that fate whereas when I was younger I would have treated this as a big adventure. Now you too are being saddened by a change. I feel your pain there as well. My best friend owns the home next to mine, she moved out a year ago but only to another home which she owns. Even though we are in touch daily I still miss her. I no longer am able to look out my window and see her working in her back yard. She can no longer come over for that morning chat we always used to have before she goes out to work. So I ask you, do you suppose it is change which saddens us as we grow older?

Here is a free :hug: ....one of many I know you shall receive here.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Ah, my dear chknltl.......

I actually do not think that it is the change itself that causes us sorrow.

I really believe that the loss of the neighbor whom we love is the cause.

I love my neighbor. She is smart, funny, sassy, intelligent and energetic. We share our birthday. We just connected when they first moved in, about 2 years ago.

I hear what you're saying when you talk about looking out your window and saw her working....I have similar memories with my neighbor.

On the other hand, an older couple across the street moved away, and now their old house has been torn down to make way for a huge spec house. But this didn't sadden me. We weren't close at all...

Thank you for the hug! I am feeling just a little bit better, thank you...

[chknltl]

11. You are quite welcome for that hug....

and thank you for the advice.
:)

[hickman1937]

19. chknit, how wise you are.

I also used to see change as a "big adventure", and now hate it. People moving away are now just a loss. Why the hell can't we all just stay put.

[chknltl]

24. Yes I want my friends and I to stay put too.

I have no choice and for my best friend she had to move because she is motivated by the financial gains she reaped by purchasing the new home across town. I have been through much with her, over the last 15 years. Without a doubt we love each other...(not in any romantic way of course). We are still "pinky pals" for life.

I easily feel those same emotions CalifoniaPeggy's feeling from her situation. When I move it may be awhile before I get cable services restored and get back up online. I will miss the DU and many of the folks here quite profoundly as well.

These are all changes. I am a Sagittarius, as is CaliforniaPeggy, (we share Nov. 27th as our birthdays), supposedly we live for change. Right now all I crave for is stability and as I grow older that craving grows stronger.

btw thank you hickman1937 for suggesting that I am wise... That is indeed the nicest thing I have heard about myself all week. :)

[hickman1937]

31. Financial gains seem to be the driving force in this country these days.

I'm a Taurus. Slow to accept change, slow to anger. When change is inevitable, we skip the angst, and just do the change pragmatically, and spend years pretending to forget what we lost, but our memories are long. From what I've read, we also have the worst temper(when we finally do decide to get angry) when it actually blows up.

[hickman1937]

8. Geeeez, this sucks.

I'll say a prayer that the Bumpasses don't move in. And their hounds.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

12. My dear hickman1937.......

Yes, it does, and I thank you for your support.

It looks like the people buying the house are normal, decent human beings...

But we won't know for sure for awhile yet......I'm hoping they will be cool...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. Dupe......delete...stupid computer......

[Crazy Guggenheim]

9. Awww. I feel bad for you.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. Thank you so much, my dear Crazy.....

It is tough dealing with this......

You guys are the best at helping me feel better!

I could sure use a hug like the one you gave me before!

[RFKHumphreyObama]

15. I'm sorry CaliforniaPeggy

I know what it's like to move away and to lose friends and neighbors whom you grow close to. I lived in a predominantly expatriate neighborhood when my family lived in Asia when I was a child and I had numerous schoolfriends and neighbors whom I had loved and grown close to move back to their country of origin and I have never been able to see them again. Neighbors and friends whom we have shared so much and who were with us in some of our darkest movements and who just comforted us by being there. And when we moved away from that country ourselves, I remember how upset I was at leaving that community and how much I cried (I was ten years old) that we would never see those people again for a long time

I remember how we had an Italian couple across the road in our new neighborhood in our new country whom we grew very close to and with whom we shared many memories together and how sad we were when they moved. And the new neighbors didn't seem particularly warm and personable but we grew to love them and value them by the time we left we had become close and shared many fond memories together

So I know how you are feeling and I understand the emotions and pain you may be feeling at the moment -I've been there too many times before. :hug: :hug: :hug: Take care :hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

16. My dear socialdemocrat1981.......

I thank you for your valuable insights......

Everything you've told me resonates with me tonight...

Too many times I have had this pain.......I wish I could stop it from hurting me!

But I have to remind myself that pain is part of living, and by feeling it, I do leave myself open to the joys of life and love as well......

And I would NOT close myself off from those good emotions for anything!


Thanks for your insights and help....... :loveya: :hug:

[merh]

17. Oh Peggy, I understand your pain.

I understand and I share it. :hug: One of the things that Katrina did to most of us along the Coast was steal from us parts of our lives, our neighbors. None of mine were killed in the storm, but their houses were so damaged, they will not be returning. I have lived in this neighborhood 20 years as of next year and have known many of my neighbors for just that long.

The couple across the street were my buds and I love them dearly. They were elderly, he a retired minister, and they were always on the go. I would watch their house for them when they were gone and they watched over me when they were here. If my car didn't leave the drive way, they would call to make sure I was okay. I used to love to go sit and visit with them and we had a standing agreement that I would not build on to my house to block their view of the bay from their kitchen window.

Katrina gutted the home that they had lived in for 40 years. It still stands and can be rebuilt, but they are in their 70's. They will not return, they don't have it in them to gut the sheetrock and rebuild. The house is vacant, gutted and on the market and they have moved over an hour away.

The neighbors to one side of me were also in their 70's. They road out the hurricane in their attic while the storm surge battered their home. Their home survived, but was so damaged, they had to tear it down. There is nothing left of the house, they have an empty lot. Those neighbors and I were also close, always ribbing each other about our yards. Heck, after the storm, when I saw them for the first time, the husband gave me a big hug and then as he looked at the rubble of my house said "I thought you were a bad house keeper, but this is ridiculous". We hugged and celebrated being alive and we have cried and empathized at our individual and joint losses.

They won't be rebuilding either.

So I know how difficult it is to lose close friends, neighbors that you joked with, visited with, took care of and that took care of you. I am actually in a better place than you are, I have no reminders of what they left, our neighborhood is too altered. But I do have the beautiful memories of what we had and their love and those memories will be with me always. I also have their addies, phone numbers and email addies. They will still be a part of my life, will always be in my heart, just not outside my front door.

I send you hugs Peggy, the sadness is new and there will be bitter sweet memories, but the fact that you love your friend so much that you feel this pain is beautiful and should be celebrated.

((((((((((((((((((( :loveya: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :loveya: )))))))))))))))))))))))))))

[CaliforniaPeggy]

18. Oh wow, my dear merh.....your situation makes mine look insupportable...

Blessings on you for your very thoughtful and loving post!

You have so much wisdom inside you, and I thank you for sharing it with me tonight.....

I have NO business complaining over my trivial loss, compared with what you have endured, and will be enduring for a long time into the future...

This quote from you especially touches me profoundly:

"Peggy, the sadness is new and there will be bitter sweet memories, but the fact that you love your friend so much that you feel this pain is beautiful and should be celebrated."

I had never thought of the pain of loss in this way, and it really resonates with me. THANK YOU!

You are too good to me, my dear merh.......:loveya:

[merh]

21. Now if I had thought my post would make you feel that your loss

and pain are insignificant, then I never would have posted. Your pain is just as great as mine, it hurts the same, it is just as scary and your friends departure will leave the same type of void.

No one's pain is insignificant, my pains are not any greater or more important than yours. I shared that with you so that you would know that I do understand how you feel, I share the pain and I offer you that understanding. I am happy you did find comfort in that one line in my post. To love so deeply that the separation from your loved ones is painful is a blessing. I wish others knew that type of love, that it came that easy, as easy as it comes for you. I do not wish them the pain, but I do wish them the beauty and the glory of that love.

And you, dear friend, are too good to me too :hug: :loveya:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

22. I'm all mixed up tonight, my dear merh!

You had no such intent, and I know it...But the hurricane Katrina was a much larger force than just my neighbors' moving away....That's all I meant...

You are so wise that I can hardly comprehend it. I thank you for it, and for your love for me...

It truly means a lot!

I love you more! :loveya:

[merh]

26. ...

:loveyou: :loveya: :hug:

[Heidi]

20. Peggy . . .

you're a special person, and your neighbors will no doubt stay in touch with you. They won't want to be without your light in their lives, I'm sure. :hug: :loveya:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

23. Thank you, my dear Heidi....

What you say is true: we will be in touch. We are so lucky, fortunate even, to have all the electronic toys of today to help us do it easily.

Thank you!

[bliss_eternal]

25. I'm SO sorry, Peggy!

My husband and I have spent the majority of our married lives in apartments, where you quickly learn how rare and wonderful it is when you get a good neighbor. Here's hoping that your next neighbor is as lovely, kind, considerate, progressive and cool as this one was.

As one of my many 'positive thinking' books states, affirm what you want and visualize it. It will happen.

Their loss will be filled with the equivalent or better! :hi:

Hoping you feel better very soon! :grouphug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

30. My dear bliss_eternal!

I thank you for your very positive contribution to my thread.....

I will visualize your good ideas and see what happens....

And I already feel better...nothing like having your friends come by to help it happen!

:loveya: :grouphug:

[KitchenWitch]

27. Oh Peggy I am so sorry!

:hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

28. I am so glad I decided to take one more turn around the Lounge

before turning in.......

I missed you tonight, earlier......And then I remembered what night it is!

Thank you for being here for me tonight, my dear KitchenWitch...

:loveya: :hug:

[KitchenWitch]

29. LOL

Actually I had a date with my daughter and her nebulizer... :(

Now I am wired from the albuterol.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

32. Hey, I don't care why you're still up......as long as you are!

And my melancholy wasn't helped by the lack of someone else here, either...

But you just helped redeem my evening! And for that I thank you!

:hug: :pals:

[KitchenWitch]

33. Glad I could help!

:hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

34. Me too, sweetie, me too!

:hug: :loveya:

[GOPisEvil]

35. I wish I could be your new neighbor!

Step 1 - win the lottery.
Step 2 - call realtor.

I hope the new neighbors are good people. :hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

36. Awww, my dear Dave, I wish you could be too!

Win the lottery is about it......The house listed for over $1million....

I am also hoping the new people are good ones....time will tell!

Thank you for coming by today....it means a lot.


:loveya: :hug: