Howdy, neighbor!

Every night as I lay in bed I can hear the man below me snoring blissfully. This evening while reading at my desk I could hear the woman in the unit below me (snoring man’s live-in lady friend) sneeze – twice. Most mornings I am awoken 10-15 minutes before my alarm goes off by the sound of the couple’s chubby pug manically running around, abruptly body slamming into walls, cabinets, doors, and miscellaneous furniture. This same pug cries and howls whenever his owners are gone for more than a few hours (while, I imagine, looking out the first-floor living-room window, waiting expectantly for his owners’ cars to back into their usual parking space).

Which makes me wonder: What must these neighbors know about me with just our thin ceilings/floors separating us? I live alone and so do not often have loud conversations save for the occasional phone or thrice weekly conference call, but I do play podcasts aloud while getting ready every morning, eating every meal and snack, and cooking or baking. Those who know me well know that I am a morning person, and my floors creak quite a bit – especially in the kitchen. And when I can’t fall asleep at night, or wake up inexplicably early and cannot fall back asleep, I often get out of bed and pass the time by baking or cooking, much to the downstairs neighbors’ dismay, I am sure, because sometimes I hear them start to move about and sleepily murmur to one another when I step on an especially creaky – but unavoidable! – floor tile. I have, however, abstained from vacuuming my floors early in the morning because nobody wants to (or ought to) be that neighbor!

Just a few more months folks, and I’m out of here :)

Charlottesville is stunning in the fall