Jul. 25, 2012
As regular readers will know, my home is on a cul-de-sac just outside of Austin, which means there are only six houses within a stone’s throw of ours. One of those houses changed owners this month, which is a first since we’ve been residents, so we have a new neighbor in our little community!
The “for sale” signed appeared in the yard last month and within two weeks, “contract pending” was added. In the blink of an eye, the sign was gone entirely and the new owners moved in. So, here is my dilemma: How do we welcome them?
I’m a friendly, outgoing person by nature, so it’s my inclination to just walk over and introduce myself. However, not everyone is as outgoing as me and surprising them in their pajamas is probably not the way to start off on the right foot.
Alternatively, I thought of dropping off a gift on their doorstep with a note. Of course, that begs the question of what gift to choose. Being a wine drinker myself, I was thinking of a nice bottle of Texas rosé to help them cool off this summer. However, whenever you give wine as a gift to someone you don’t know, you risk that they don’t drink alcohol. Okay, scratch that one off the list.
How about a nice tin of homemade cookies instead? Well, that would require I actually bake some cookies, which rarely happens in my house. And, what if they’re gluten-intolerant or allergic to nuts?
You can see where my thought process has been with this … in the “over-thought with no good solutions” category. At this point, a plant with a nice card is sounding good. Any friendly neighbors out there have good advice for me?
