Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

"Something there is that doesn't love a wall" is the beginning of a poem by Robert Frost.  I can probably recite most of it by memory.  I think it is called Mending Wall.  My dad loved Robert Frost and he passed that love along to me.  I stop by woods on snowy evenings and ponder the diverging roads in yellow woods regularly.  Go read some Frost poems, I will wait.

I recalled Mending Wall this weekend.  There was a lot of digging and pounding going on in my neighborhood, in fact, right on the edge of my yard, on two sides.  The next door neighbors replaced a rickety fence that was encroaching on my property by half a foot the length of our properties.  When I bought my house, I had it stipulated that if they replaced the fence they would give me back my inches.  It is just business.  Then the neighbors behind me also fenced their lot.  They have recently acquired 2 little white dogs and I think they want to be able to let them out.

The upshot is, there are 6 foot privacy fences on 2 sides of my property that hadn't been there before. The backyard looks different, darker.  I immediately didn't like it.  I felt mad that these people had blocked me off like that.  My rational mind didn't think there was anything wrong with the fences, I am speaking of feelings.  I felt cut off.  Perhaps I just didn't like change. Something there is that doesn't love a wall....

I have had a few days and have given myself a talking to about my feelings and I am over it.  I kind of like the privacy in my back yard.  When I am out picking up sticks, I don't have to consider whether my backside is giving an unflattering show to all and sundry.  If at some point I want to fence my yard, part is already done.  I have come to like the fences.  And as the Frost poem ends--Good fences make good neighbors. Good fences make good neighbors...