The Neighbor and The Renter

by Julia Graves

There was a knock at my front door. I was not expecting anyone, so I was curious as to whom it was. As I opened the door there stood two young women. They appeared familiar but I was not sure from where. They knew me by name. They began to tell me how they had just moved their mother, my neighbor, to their home. The cancer she had been diagnosed with this past May had moved into her lungs. She has become very weak and needs assistance getting back and forth to her daily radiation and chemo appointments.

It was five years ago that I met her. Spring vacation, and a beautiful spring day it was. I had just moved into the neighborhood. “The Renter,” they called me, because I was one of the few in a mainly homeowner-occupied neighborhood. She lived across the street and was always in her yard doing something. Mowing, watering, weeding, and while she was doing these things, she would smile and wave at everyone that passed by. There is a saying in our neighborhood, “if you want to know anything about the neighborhood, just go ask her.” It is not because she is a gossip or a snoop. It is because she is unconditionally friendly, she loves everyone. She greets the stranger who passes her yard with a smile and open arms.

This past Sunday as I knelt praying at St. Luke’s, I looked up at the statue of Jesus. Arms open to the world, ready and willing to receive everyone, just as my neighbor does for everyone who passes her yard. I shared this thought with my friend when I went to visit her after church. We embraced each other while sitting on her daughter's sofa. I shared with her my experience at St. Luke's. “That is how I want to be,” she said. “I love everyone.”

May we all learn be to be so welcoming and to love so unconditionally.