Thursday, November 13, 2008

Neighborly

Dear Sam & Patti,

I hope Chicago is treating you well. I just wanted to tell you that I didn't realize what great neighbors you were until you left this summer. You were both so friendly and, well, quiet. That's what I miss the most. The hourly chiming clock didn't even bother me that much. I'd take that any day over giggly girls who have no other volume to their voices other than shouting, elephants running up and down the stairs, and blaring mariachi music. I guess living away from home for the first time means you can be loud ALL THE TIME. Instead of waking mom up, they wake up the cranky pregnant lady instead.

I loved the comment Patti made about how you loved hearing Sophie through the walls -- even the crying. While I tried to console her quicker as to not disturb you two, now I find myself inching her closer to the upstairs heater when she's upset. Remember how that thing is like an intercom between our units? And after an exceptionally loud evening, I sometimes run the vacuum at 8 AM and make sure every speck of dust is sucked up near the wall that we share. That's not very neighborly of me, I know. I can't help being facetious sometimes.

The only consolation I have is that the guy next door is a plumber. I guess the pipes in our building were a little backed up last night, and he got right in there and cleaned them out. Actually it's not really the guy that bugs me. He's nice. It's his fiance and sister, who are 19 and 21, and the guys that come visit them that get on my nerves. They should be in school. Or have jobs. Or something.

Is there any way we can convince you to come back? The weather is nice right now and supposed to be 80 degrees tomorrow. I'm sure you miss that. And Sam, I'd make you sweets all the time if you decided to move back in. You name it, and I'd have it on your doorstep in no time.

Lots of love,
The Perrys

3 comments:

Cassia said...

I am so sorry. I love the letter, though. :) At least you won't be the "cranky pregnant lady" for much longer, right? :) Then they can enjoy listening to a baby waking up at night. :)

Suzanne said...

Lucky. I love mariachi music. ;)

My favorite is the vacuuming. BRILLIANT! Why not start at 7:30???

Cynthia said...

Ugh. Apartment life. We all get to do the loud neighbor thing. Our last apartment was like that.

Toward the end though we were the 'noisy neighbors'. Our twins were preemies and came home on heart monitors and the volume on those suckers is extremely loud and you can't turn it down (that would defeat the purpose I guess). We kept apologizing to our neighbors but thankfully they were very understanding. I guess that's a whole different kind of noise though, huh?

May your new neighbors move SOON!