A smile and wave from that someone who brings in the bins while you’re away, and who collects your mail when you can’t is one of those undervalued but essential relationships we make in life.

 

I always find it interesting that many people don’t know their neighbours. They pass them like ships in the night in apartment building hallways, or live next door to someone for months or years on end and never even know their name.

 

But there is something beautiful about the relationship that you can develop with a neighbour. It’s the safety and security of knowing that someone cares, even if it’s just a little bit, and that someone is looking out for you and there to help if you need.

Know thy neighbour

It’s the person who waters your garden when you are away for the summer, the person who collects your newspaper, or the person who waves hello in the carport as you get out of your car. It may be even a person you have a coffee with now and then or have over for dinner occasionally.

 

As human beings, we all want to belong and know that people care, and we all want to feel like someone is looking out for us.

 

This is the true value of a neighbour. They are not necessarily your best friend, and they may not be there through hardship or to hold your hand, you may only know their first name, but they are there.

 

There to keep an eye out or to just wave hello. It’s that little bit of security and in a way, act of love that means so much to the everyday.

 

Our lives consist of many relationships, and the ones we share with our neighbours, no matter how small the interactions, really do matter and shape the framework that is our lives.