Let’s say you’re moving into a new place and find yourself inundated by strangers introducing themselves and asking you to come over for dinner?  Within a few short days, these strangers not only know the names of your children, but seem to always watch them play while working out in their yards. 

If you are from the city, you’re probably thinking stalker, or molester.  If you just moved to a small town, this actually might not be the case.  That supposedly new nosey neighbor of yours is an extra set of eyes, watching out for the safety of your children.  It’s called being neighborly, something that rarely happens in cities anymore.

In the city, if your neighbor has unsightly weeds growing in his yard, you go to the H.O.A. to complain.  In a small town, you go to the neighbor and offer to help them pull those weeds.  There is no need for alarm systems, or watchdog organizations in a small town.  People living there naturally look out of each other.  Warning phone calls in the middle of the night when a strange car pulls into your driveway are not unheard of.

Now some of you might consider these types of actions intrusive to your privacy, but it’s one of the things I miss most since leaving my small town.  Imagine getting a knock on your front door when you’re so sick you can hardly walk, and there’s your neighbor with large container of soup.  Oh yeah, give me a nosey neighbor any day.