Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

I sit on our patio many summer evenings and enjoy the final wisps of sunset. For most of the years I’ve done this, there have been lights on in the home directly across the pond from ours.

I know this homeowner; she has the reputation of being difficult. And I have experienced it firsthand a couple times. Once she threatened to take matters into her own hands against me if our board didn’t intercede.

Still, I know that her husband died just before they had planned to move into our development. It must have been unsettling to say the least to move alone. There is always the question of what might have been. So I cut her slack.

I heard recently that she was unable to live alone any longer. That she had moved to a local assisted living facility. This probably explains two things. First, she always had attractive flower stands on her patio; this year there are none. And there are never any lights on in her condo. I heard some family member has taken over, but that person isn’t tuned into flower stands or lights. Probably has enough to do without them too.

Now when I sit on my patio gazing across the pond, it’s not the difficultness of my neighbor that I remember. It’s the more pleasant things. I’m sorry she’s no longer there.