October-November of 2014 my lovely neighbor Pam sold her home to a family from Garland, TX. I met the family while I was performing the last lawn mowing of the season. I had been cutting Pam's grass for 10+ years and continued to cut it while it was rented out to her friends until the last tenant left. But I digress. This post is about my new neighbors, not their lawn, although their lawn plays into this post a bit.
When I met my new neighbors, I detected the accent, Eastern European I had guessed but was not sure which country) so I asked and the woman, Maggy, almost sheepishly said, "Polish". Working in a global company has afforded me the luxury of speaking with and meeting people from all over the world, and that is no exaggeration. So when this woman tells me she and her family is Polish, I am happy to add them to our neighborhood melting pot.
Maggie* introduced me to her mother (or mother in law, not sure), her children (Kam, 10 and Nat, 8) and her husband, Walter. All seemed a bit shy and the children were very well behaved. They thanked me for mowing the grass (I do not think they knew I was being paid for it and to be honest it was in very bad shape by the time I was asked to cut it) and little was said other than simple introductions.
I saw them off and on over the next few months and since we had a wet winter and spring, I saw less of them than I would have normally. That all changed a week or two ago when Walter began working out in the yard doing some much needed landscaping and then assembling a plastic shed near their driveway.
While Walter was working on his shed with his wife I came over to give them a hand after I had finished mowing another neighbor's yard. I could not perform any fine motor skills while helping him but I was able to hold things, hand him tools and fasteners, as well as give him some insight/advice when needed. They had the assembly instructions but Walter did not seem to want/need them and his wife was having a hard time understanding them. Since I had put one of these together many years before I figured my assistance was not going to be wasted.
I helped them for a couple of hours until it became too dark to work effectively. They thanked me and I said my goodbyes.
During the next week (in between storms and windy weather) Walter would be in the yard finishing up his work on the shed by adding a stone border around it as well as planting some bushes and placing a park bench beside it so he and I could "have a beer or glass of wine" together or for the kids to rest on. I thought that nice.
Last night I took a 2 mile walk and on my way back noticed Walter had a a large pile of landscaping material sitting on his sidewalk and he was busy digging out the flower beds and setting stones in place to create a border. I went over to say hi and we ended up chatting for about 2 hours.
Spending this time with him was almost a bonding moment. I learned a lot more about him in that time then I did all the other time put together.
I learned he has a 23 year old son whom he does not get to see much. It was not clear if he was married to his son's mother or not, but I was informed that Maggie thought of him as a son early on before she and Walter had kids.
Maggie carries a nice iPhone 6+ but hardly ever texts or talks on it. The kids both have phones but only one (the little girl, Nat) likes to talk or text. The boy, Kam, is like his mother and does not use it to talk or text much.
Walter has an older brother who was once quite an athlete until he was diagnosed with Leukemia. Walter told me that he did not take traditional medicine but has kept the disease in check with herbs his mother told him about.
Walter and Maggie lived in Michigan for some time but moved to Texas 8-10 years ago. He stated the area they lived in was nice but a "negative element" started moving in and over the years the neighborhood became very run down with no one maintaining their property. I have read this is common in certain neighborhoods in Michigan but now I have a first hand witness to this to back it up.
Walter and the kids never seem to change how they look when I see them but Maggie looks different every time I see her. The first time she had just came from work, so she was dressed business casual but the next time I saw her up close she was working in the yard and really had "dressed down" so I was not sure it was her until she spoke.
He really works hard on household projects until they are completed. He has done quite a bit of updating in the house since they have moved in. He also tends to rush into things without any real plan, much to his wife's dismay. She did not want him to start on the landscaping until the fall now she is upset they have to finish it now so it will not be an eyesore all summer long.
Maggie's English is much better than Walter's. It is not that he is hard to understand...he just has a smaller vocabulary. I did a lot of filling in the blanks for him last night while we were talking, unlike the evening we worked on his shed when he spent most of the time speaking in Polish and his wife had to translate.
I also think that Walter does not have a job outside the house unless it is part time as I have been home several times during the day (because of doctor appointments, usually) and he is almost always there, or at least his truck is. I take it her pay must be good to afford a big 4 wheel drive truck and a econo-box for her to drive, plus a 200k home and his huge collection of tools and the improvements they have already done on their home.
As the evening came to a close last night, his wife and kids came home from some athletic event (track and field, I think) and we all said hi to each other. She ignored all Walter's texts and calls that he sent asking her for input on the landscaping so we spent a lot of time talking while we waited for her to respond or return home. When she did manage to get home I kept joking with her and Walter, caller her "boss" and asking what we needed to do next.
I think I am going to like my new neighbors.
*Short versions/alternatives to their Polish names
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