遠親不如近鄰

Growing up in New York City I always had lots of neighbors，

but only one was like family. My single mom and I lived in a nice apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan， right next to another single mom and her son， David， who was like the brother I never had. He was a year and a half older than me， not to mention taller， more handsome and much more confident. I looked up to him in a way that I’d never looked up to anyone before.

Our apartment building had a doorman， which made us tenants feel secure enough to leave our doors unlocked most of the time. But David and I took it to another level. We would leave our doors wide open， on a regular basis， so we could come and go as we pleased， which didn’t exactly sit well with our protective mothers. But that didn’t deter us pesky kids.

We would hang out playing Nintendo or Sega when my mom had to work late at the ad agency， and we’d nourish ourselves by heating up layers of bacon in the microwave， calling it a “bacon party！”

In this month’s first featured article， Howdy Neighbor， Karen Napa believes in climbing over your neighbor’s fence（metaphorically and literally） and becoming part of their lives. Shellie Reese describes Summer on Clay Street through the kindness， and elaborate dishes， displayed by her eclectic neighbors. Sherry Dodson shows us how The True Neighbor is often unappreciated until they are gone. And Eve Birch learned how The Art of Being a Neighbor is actually a lesson in charity and good will.

Now in my 30s， I’ve adopted more of a “keep to oneself”approach towards my neighbors， in part due to my lack of Cantonese communication skills， and how homes here in Guangzhou each have 2 locked doors， as opposed to the wide open ones from my innocent youth. Speaking of which， I wonder if David is still close with his neighbors…

一個親如家人。我的單親媽媽和我住在曼哈頓上西區的一所漂亮公寓里，正好與另一位單親媽媽和她的兒子大衛為鄰。大衛就像我從未擁有過的哥哥一樣。他年齡比我大一歲半，比我高，比我帥，比我更有自信。我對他有著前所未有的崇拜。

我們的公寓樓有一位守門人，所以住戶們都很放心，不怎么愛鎖家門。但大衛和我則將這種情況發展到更高的層次。我們會把家門開得大大的，經常如是，如此一來，我們就可以隨意來去自如，不過，這其實可不是那兩位對我們保護有加的媽媽所能接受的。但是，那阻止不了我們這些調皮的小孩。

當我媽媽得在廣告社工作到很晚的時候，我們會混到一塊兒玩任天堂或者世嘉。我們會把熏肉放到微波爐里加熱，并且稱之為“熏肉派對”！

在本月的第一篇主題文章《你好，鄰居！》中，凱倫·納帕相信應該翻過鄰居的籬笆（既是比喻意義上，也是現實意義上）并且成為他們生活中的一部分。雪莉·里斯展示了她那些豁達包容的鄰居們的友善和精致美食，以此描述《克雷街的夏天》的故事。雪利·達德森向我們揭示：《真正的鄰居》在離世之前往往得不到重視。伊芙·伯奇懂得了《與人為鄰的藝術》其實是關于慈善和愛心的一課。

如今，三十多歲的我對待鄰居更多的是實踐“自成一統”的策略，部分原因是出于我粵語溝通技巧的缺乏，而且廣州的每個家庭都有兩扇緊鎖的門，這跟我小時候家門大開的情形迥然不同。說……