We spent yesterday with our neighbors for a Fourth of July cookout. We were excited to be invited, and looking forward to meeting new people. We realized too late that we don’t have a lot in common. Sure, they were nice enough, and friendly, and the food was good, but it felt like Robert and I were interviewing to be accepted into the neighborhood.

Here’s a small sampling of the questions we got:
“Where did you live before you moved here?”
“Where did you grow up?”
“How did you two meet?”
“How long have you been married?”
“What do you do?”
“What work have you done to the house?”
“Which neighbors have you met?”
“What future work do you want to do on the house?”

I realize that questions are all part of getting to know each other, but at the beginning, we were just answering rapid-fire questions, not actually having conversations.

Here’s what we learned about the neighbors.

1. They are republican
2. They hate vegetarians
3. They do not drink alcohol
4. They hate squirrels

I guess we don’t have very much in common with them, being the liberal, democratic, vegetarian-friendly, alcohol-drinking,
squirrel-loving people that we are.