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We have been friends with our next door neighbors for years, even before we moved into this house 12 years ago. We had kids the same ages going to the same schools. We’ve shared our lives with a cup of coffee or over a glass of wine. When their son got married a few years ago, we housed the photographer and his son. When their daughter was married last fall, we offered our driveway to parking. My husband made a sign “Guest Parking.”
My neighbors knew they would be out of town for Maggie’s wedding, so they offered their house for my family to stay in. My sister and her family slept there, but many of us parked our cars there.
When my friend returned home Saturday night, a day early, she texted me. I told her it wasn’t a problem for my sister’s family to move back to our house. But we left the cars in the driveway. At 9:30, I got this text:
“Do not love the cars.”
I started fuming. I decided to be cool and responded, “We’ll move them.” And sent my brother-in-law over to start moving cars back to our driveway. I had many not-so-nice thoughts run through my head. Luckily I didn’t text any of them.
Shortly after, she called and left me a frantic message, “I didn’t mean love! I meant move! Do not move the cars!”
I returned her call, and we laughed about it.
My brother-in-law’s wisdom was “Trust the relationship. Not the auto-correct.”
Lesson learned. In this day of quick fingers and auto-correct, we must remember that friends are friends. “I get by with a little help from my friends!”
Reflections on the Teche 