Neighbors - commonalities

Friend La güera had a post recently about neighbors and I had a talk with my neighbor today that prompted me to write. When I moved into this house, about 2.5 years ago, I was still feeling a little odd for being a divorced woman with a kid moving into a house by herself. It seems weird now to think that I thought that way. Anyway, I moved in, and quickly met the families on either side of me. Both had boys, one side had two that were 2 and 3 years younger than Mr W, and the other had one that was a couple of years older.

In the course of those 2.5 years, one side's neighbors got a messy divorce and they are far from settling their differences, and the other side's are legally separated and she's not sure if the marriage can be saved. How's that for a turn of events? No indeed, I am not alone among the ranks of the divorced.

I don't know how the legally separated couple is doing in terms of providing the best care possible for their kid. One the other side of the alley, she has remarried, and is trying to move, with the kids, to the new husband's home town in KY. Big resistance and bad feelings and using the kids as pawns with that situation. Seemingly endless instances of (at least) the ex husband trying to above all else be difficult. It's hard to know the whole story, I know. But this is an acrimonious relationship at best.

For my part, my x and I get along pretty well, and in my mind, this is for the sole purpose of taking care of Mr W. The x is not my friend, I don't want anything other than a more or less professional relationship with him, and we have (thus far at least) been able to keep at the forefront the goal of raising Mr W. That's all one can ask. As it turns out, CB has the same deal with his x. Not too much strife, and they work together (only) for the purpose of raising the kids. As it should be.

I don't have as much contact with my other neighbors who are more than one house away. However, we talk when we see each other, and one neighbor works at Mr W's school. It's a cordial relationship and I've been so please to have good relations with my neighbors.