What Defines a Good Neighbor?

What defines a good neighbor? I have recently began to understand what makes my neighbors good or bad. I have one neighbor, who is an older lady, maybe in her fifties. She comes and goes at all hours of the day and night, but somehow always manages to catch me outside with my dogs. Of course my dogs bark at her. She has come up on them and startled them, then she wants to chit chat. I try to calm my dogs down, meanwhile never understanding a word she has said. She is one of those neighbors who will make you late for work, but she never thinks about that. You can say "After I salt the walk I gotta go. I have to be at work in ten minutes." Ten minutes later she is still rambling on and on about her son's girlfriend and her mom. People I have never met or laid eyes on.

So a good neighbor is courteous, and doesn't try to blindside you when you are obviously busy and in the middle of your own chores.

A good neighbor takes in their garbage cans promptly after collection and does not force you to look at their garbage cans parked on the curb and forgotten about.

A good neighbor keeps their lawn manicured or at least mowed, cleans up after their pets and children and will do so without any not so obvious signs such as offering to help if they can't get around to cutting their grass.

A good neighbor will return any mail they received by mistake instead or trashing it or opening it up to satisfy their curiosity about your life.

A good neighbor will waves and speak when they see you, they will send greetings of holiday cheer and holiday cookies.

A good neighbor will not intrude on your day to day life, but they will offer to help if you fall on times of need. As an example, a neighbor of mine had back surgery recently. My next door neighbor came knocking on my door with a small list. She explained "Paul had back surgery last week. They have three children you know, some of us are asking for donations for the family. We want to prepare a food basket to give to Paul to help out." On her list were simple and inexpensive grocery items such as spaghetti sauce and noodles, canned vegetables and soups, potatoes Home style bake dinner kits, cereals and so on. Of course I spent an extra ten dollars at the grocery store to contribute to the effort. Good neighbors do things like that if they can help out.

A good neighbor will try to live in harmony with you, and keep peace. A good neighbor is a treasure, I have learned and should be treated with kindness and respect.