Welcome to the Neighborhood

A few weeks ago my fiance mentioned that we have new neighbors across the street. About a week later I was reading some recipe reviews at Recipezaar and someone wrote about making a desert and giving it to their new neighbors to welcome them. Hmmm, do people still do that? That sounds like something I'd like to do.

So I started thinking of something I could make to welcome our new neighbors. I decided to bake a healthier version of Tollhouse Cookies to give to them. I had made them a few months ago and they turned out quite well. I found the recipe, made my substitutions and started baking. My substitutions included using whole wheat flour instead of white and using Sucanat instead of white sugar.

The thought of giving these cookies to my neighbors was very scary. Would these people think I was a bit crazy? Would they think I was just being nosy or trying to worm my way into their lives? My only intention was to be kind and to do something nice for someone. I was a bit afraid of being rejected. A few times I've sent friendly messages to people on myspace who seemed nice and I was completely ignored. I've never even seen the people who recently moved in across the street. What if they treated me rudely?

Finally my cookies were done. I displayed them nicely and made "Welcome" note to go along with them.

I walked over to my neighbor's house and rang the bell. There was a vehicle parked in their driveway. I cringed and waited for the door to open. A dog was barking. I felt more comfortable. Dog people are good people, right? Well, not necessarily. No one came to the door so I guess they weren't home. Either that or they didn't want to meet the nutty neighbor with the cookies in her hand. Should I leave the cookies or come back later when they were home? Silly me left them and went home, changed my mind and went back for them. I thought it would be nice to give them in person and get a feel for my new neighbors.

Over the next several hours, I waited for my new neighbors to come home - peeking out the window every now and then to see if they had arrived yet. At 8:30, I just about gave up. It was getting late and it didn't seem proper to go over so late. A few minutes later I saw that they were home and had the dog outside. I grabbed the cookies and made a run for it - a bit nervous but ready to just do it.

I saw the woman who lived there and told her that I wanted to welcome her to the neighborhood. She was about my age and seemed very touched that I had made the effort saying how nice it was of me to do that. We introduced ourselves and she introduced me to her fiance. I showed her where I lived and left with a smile on my face. I felt that I had met someone nice. I felt good about what I had done. I'm glad I did it. It was worth the fear of possibly being rejected.