Nosey neighbor from next door.......

I never had much of an opinion about neighbors until we bought our house.  It started when we were looking at our house to buy and the next door neighbor came by to talk with us.  She introduced herself as the nosey neighbor from the TV show Bewitched.....MRS. Kravits ( I think that is how you spell the name)  She told us everything there was to know about the house we were looking at and the home owners and everything about the neighborhood.  She would know........She has a pair of binoculars, that she would use to spy on the neighbors!  The day we were moving in she offered to help us. " Anything you need, it's yours"  That was her motto.  I was bugged at first.  Always checking up on us, sharing info on neighbors I didn't know.  Telling me about her family as I knew them.  Anytime we were outside, she'd run up to us and started talking and I mean TALKING.  She could talk FOREVER!  I finally started turning around when we ended up borrowing a rake to clean our yard.  I told her I didn't have one and I asked if I could borrow her rake.  " Anything you need, it's yours" There came the saying I'll never forget. The next day I came home from work and there was new rake standing up against the back door with a big red bow on it.   I one time asked her why she was always so nice and letting us borrow every known yard tool in the world.   She said when she first moved into her house, she had no yard tools to use and her neighbor let her borrow her things.  The only way she could think to repay her neighbor was to be nice to all of the neighbors that came and went.  That was the moment I started changing my mind about being bugged to enjoying seeing my neighbor every chance she got!  We became very good friends, switching keys to each other's homes, taking care of each other's dogs, sharing plants in our yards, keep up with the neighbor's lives, getting to know each other.  I one time needed a tray to use in the oven and my neighbor wasn't home....I just let myself in her house, went into the kitchen and got it myself.  Daris told me I was spending to much time over there if I knew where the baking trays where.  I call my neighbor to let her know what I did and she just laughed and said "Anything you need, it's yours".  We shared a love for Department 56 Christmas houses and we shared our religious views often.  She just loved when the missionaries would come to her house.  She would give them such a had time tell them the most outrageous things.  Onetime she told them that the world was going to end in two hours!!  We would laugh about it later and she asked if the missionaries believed her or not!  She was the most loving Christan women I had ever known.  She loved everyone and help anyone in need.  She has helped me in more ways than one.  She was my best friend.  I could ALWAYS run to her house to chat or to work out a problem.  She was the best cook.  I can't tell you how many times she made me dinner when Daris was working.  She always checked on me......more so now that I have Robyn.  She was such a mother hen.  Making sure Robyn was eating and growing.  Yelled at me once because I forgot to put suntan lotion on her!  Making sure we had enough food and that everything was going good in our lives.  She would help kill the spiders at my house and I would clean up the birds and rats her cats brought home.  We were the perfect pair of neighbors.  Everyone should have one like her! 
     I'll miss you terribly nosey neighbor!  I'll miss you talking about strangers as if I know them.  Miss talking about our neighborhood. Miss talking about different plants and our pets.  Miss talking about your favorite TV shows and how one day your kitchen table will be cleaned off.  Miss talking about your new craft your doing.  Miss you coming over and not caring if I'm in my pj's or if my house was a mess.  You brought a comfort to my life and my families.  I'll tell Robyn about you often and how you taught me all about my plants in my yard and how to treat strangers, neighbors and loved ones.  How to be a great mother, grandmother, sister, daughter and wife.  Thank you Judy Newcomer!  Now that you are gone from this world remember that we love you and will think of you often.  I'll see you again some day, my nosey neighbor and then we can talk and talk and talk and talk............Judith Newcomer died May 30th 2011