The Cute LIttle Old Couple Across The Street

 

The Cute Little Old Couple Across the Street

When we moved into our first home many years ago, the cute little old couple across the street was there to greet us at our door before the first packing box was unloaded from our moving van.  They gave us a bottle of wine and sneaked a peek inside our door to see if our house was as nice as theirs. 

            Years passed.  The cute little old couple across the street sent us old-fashioned greeting cards on all of our birthdays and holidays.

            More time passed.  We crept from our twenties to thirties, then forties.  Some neighbors moved away to bigger houses when they got better jobs.  But the cute little old couple across the street stayed put. They were lifers.

            Everyone on the block invited the cute little old couple across the street to our parties and barbeques, but the reply was always “No thank you,” because they had this ailment or that injury, but they watched us from their porch, waving and joining us vicariously from a distance. 

             When we hit middle age, the cute little old couple entered their eighties.  Their grass grew long and their hedges lost their shape, so we helped them with their chores when we could.  One by one, our other neighbors retired and moved to warmer weather.   

            When we got older, the cute little old couple across the street was near one hundred.  They slipped away quietly, one to nursing care and the other to hospice.  Lucky for us, a new young couple bought the old house and moved in.  We rushed over the moment their moving van arrived, gave them a bottle of wine, and managed to get a glimpse inside.  The old house had been painted and carpeted over. The cute little old couple across the street was gone, along with all their memories. 

            The young new couple that moved in was so grateful for our warm welcome that they sent us a thank-you card addressed “To the cute little old couple across the street.”