Marilyn Englander has noticed that neighbors are getting to know each other better during the pandemic, in part by what they’re putting out for curbside pickup.
Before the pandemic hit, I thought I knew my neighbors pretty well. Maybe not their full names, but chunks of their biographies — who was a night owl or a runner or had little kids, the master gardeners or Amazon addicts. We all had notions of who was who.
But the pandemic has brought us to new levels of intimacy. Being stuck inside our homes for months inspired just about everyone to launch massive purges of garage and closets. It all landed out on the curb — in case, of course, someone wanted our erstwhile treasures. Oh, the tales those piles of junk tell!
That couple in the pink stucco house is done with having babies. There sat a charming old-fashioned rocking horse hitched up to a diaper table.
The kitty died two blocks over. A forlorn altar of cat tree and bowl was erected by the driveway. And the sad old dog bed at the curb on the next street!