I imagine it looks incredibly sad to see a person walk back down the stairs after ringing the doorbell with one hand, while holding a tray of cookies on the other hand. In my case, I felt stupid. The lights were out in the kitchen, and as I could see when walked around the garden, the lights were off in the living room too. I even felt surprised and disappointed, thinking to myself that the old lady next door should have provided coffee and the delicious raisin bread that her freezer is full of. But of course, she has birthdays to attend to, grandkids to play with and sisters to visit, just as other people.
When I studied psychology, I read that the factor that mainly decides who you become friends with, is distance. You are more likely to become friends with people that live next door, or if you live by the stairs, people in the story directly above or below you. My friend, the eighty-something-next-door widow, was introduced to me by my grandma. This woman knits amazingly fast, and she knits beautiful hats, sweaters, baby blankets, gloves and miniature dresses. One of her friends lives up the road, and I see her when she visits my neighbor, but I wouldn’t automatically show up at her door and expect coffee.
Ok, sometimes I can knit with the cat on my lap.
Saturdays I go grocery shopping, and this past Saturday I went by my neighbor to ask if she needed anything. When I dropped off her bananas and milk, I told her I’d be by Sunday or Monday to let her read the transcripts of her memoir. The woman’s memory is fading slowly, and I want to save the first-hand experiences from her Norwegian WW2-childhood. It was only 8 or 9 months ago that she gave me a continuous retelling of the events, whereas last week she left out large parts and hesitated a lot when I asked for the stories I remembered.
I hope my neighbor is home on Wednesday. I will bring my yarn and needles and continue knitting the socks that only can be worked on accompanied by fellow knitters. The cookies on the tray will probably be stale by Wednesday, but I suppose Min and I can finish them on our own. Being a little paranoid, I can only hope she is doing okay.
