Buttermilk Pie, Neighbors and Bursting Bubbles

for belated π Day

Last week my neighbor left a giant bag with many boxes of Girl Scout Cookies in front of my door. He included a handwritten card, with a melted wax seal that said, “thank you for being such a good neighbor.”

I have only barely run into him prior to this. Apartment buildings in big cities are a bit of a strange vortex - weeks can pass without running into someone you recognize, let alone that sweet German Shepard on the second floor, or the neighbor with whom you share a wall. Schedules, vacuousness, city life, the seattle introversion and exclusion of anyone who’s not. I dunno. It can be isolating. Cities are surprisingly lonely places. Or, maybe it’s this city. Or age or life stage or post pandemic hangover. This is the only city in which I’ve experienced this. I still feel new here, though. Side note: should I move to San Jose??