Neighborly Fly By

It's embarassing, but true.
When driving through my lovely neighborhood, I often pull over when I see someone leaving or entering a fabulous house or garden, wearing a fabulous coat or walking a dog like mine, and hurl a drive-by compliment at them. For example, last month, a house in the neighborhood got a great paint job, so when I saw someone working in the yard, I pulled over, asked if they lived there and complimented the new paint scheme. That same week, a house sold and the new people were unloading. I pulled over, hollered "Are you my new neighbors?", they smiled and nodded, so I yelped back "Welcome!" and drove off. Most of the time it is no more than a sentence and the people are happy to get a random act of appreciation thrown their way. It's never seemed a weird thing to me, until I lobbed one at an ex-boyfriend.

There's a house a few blocks over that I adore. It is a gorgeous, well-restored, arts and crafts, low-slung ranch or maybe bungalow that has a stunning garden. I often hope to run in to the owners while walking the dogs, but have never seen someone coming or going. I intentionally walk by it with the pups to admire it, and take that route in the car frequently, always taking note of something new in bloom in the garden. I've become a kind of a house stalker, waiting to spring into compliment mode.

A few weeks back, I was in luck! A couple was leaving the house at the exact moment I was driving by. I did a dramatic swerve over and said- "Are you lucky enough to live here?", like a complete dork. The man spun around and said "no, but they are friends". My jaw dropped. Instantly recognizing him, I must have turned a dozen shades of red. I hadn't seen this guy in at least 5 years. I could tell he recognized me, too. I stammered, "John! Um, Hello! Do you, uh, know these people? I just, um, wanted to compliment the garden... I love the house and drive by it every day... I walk the dogs past it, too and admire the gorgeous garden...", I blabbered on and on. He asked what I was doing in the neighborhood, I explained I'd moved in recently. We exchanged a few more awkward but polite sentences before I asked me to be sure to tell them that they received a random compliment. He said he would, and would mention that it was from an architect, no less. I drove away with my tail tucked. I am certain that it looked like I was stalking not only the house, but him- the dramatic swerve when I saw him, the lame reason for pulling over, the blushing... I was downright creepy. Mortifying.