When we built our house on the edge of town a few years back, we knew that we would eventually have neighbors on our street, and we looked forward to hopefully having another young family in the area.
When that sweet young family built and moved in, I wish that I could say I ran over with a home-cooked dinner and a plate of cookies, but I think it was actually more like;
*Doorbell rings* “Hi. I have some extra peppermint bark….Here you go… Okay, bye.” *Hands half-eaten Ziploc bag to neighbor and literally runs away.
That was last Christmas, and I’m pretty sure it was the last time I knocked on their door until a couple of days ago.
The mailman accidentally put a letter addressed to them in our mailbox, and I needed to return it… I also needed to apologize for my son who had just run his power wheels police car into the back of their car… aaaaand for our 10 lb dog always being outside at the wrong time and enjoying his own bark.
*Doorbell rings* “Hey! Sorry this letter got put in our mailbox and I didn’t check my mail for a few days… hope it isn’t important or late or something and sorry my 4 year old just ran his car into the back of your car but I didn’t see any damage so let us know if you find anything wrong with it and we’ll take care of it… okay bye!” *Hands neighbor letter and runs.
Awkward Neighbor Award goes to this girl (again.)
But other than my bizarre confession/rambling, I happened to notice something else in those few short seconds. I can’t be sure, but I’m fairly positive I saw clothes on the back of her couch like she was in the middle of folding laundry.
And for whatever reason, I wanted to run home and tell my husband (and I think I actually did,) “Guess what! The neighbor has laundry on her couch too!”
Suddenly, knocking on her door again didn’t seem as intimidating. She’s just another lady like me with laundry to fold.
And I got to thinking…
Does anyone else just wish we could skip those awkward beginning months of getting to know new people? It is hard work pretending like your house is always picked up and like there aren’t ever toilet paper pieces around your bathroom trashcan.
It is hard work having those first awkward play dates when your house is the cleanest it has been in months, and yet you apologize for how embarrassingly messy it is and promise it is ALWAYS much tidier.
Lies!
Wouldn’t life be better if we could make new friends and just start with, “Welcome to my real life. It isn’t perfect. Sometimes I fuss at my kids. Sometimes there is rotten food in the refrigerator that makes the entire house stink. There is usually laundry on the couch that needs to be folded, and can you please take this diaper and cram it into the already full diaper genie that I haven’t taken out in over a week? So glad you guys could come over and play today!”
Wouldn’t that just be better?!
What if we just started out being real with people? What if we weren’t afraid to be all of who we are (messes included.) What if we all just decided that the phony business wasn’t worth it?
I think there would be far more authentic friendships and far less closets crammed with real life messes.
Is this a call to action? Nope. Is it a plea? Ehhh not really.
This is just one lady saying to another, “I bet your living room (and your life) is sometimes as messy as mine, and let’s be honest and decide that’s okay.”
Let’s skip to the good stuff. Shall we? Because if we’re honest, we all have dirty laundry… the only difference is, I just might invite you over to help fold mine.
