Listener Neighbor Stories - The Shower Curtain by Donna Jaehrling

We are called upon to love our neighbors, and often we show brotherly love and care towards neighbors in concrete ways that their own family members do not. I lived next door to an elderly man for 14 years. We spoke often. Once he mentioned to me that the bed he slept in was the one he had been born in. It also ended up being the one he died in. Over the years, he had several dogs in the back yard. One bitterly cold November night, my 7-year-old son pointed out to me that "Daisy Mae" was out in Forrest's back yard on the verge of delivering puppies. So, we went and got her, and brought her into our laundry room, where she had her puppies that night. We found homes for her puppies. I paid to have her spayed and vaccinated. We often helped Forrest with other things, cutting his grass, etc. From outward appearances, he had little money. When he passed away, I learned that he had left a huge inheritance to his daughter, who lived in another city and never visited him. She came to get a few items from his house after he died. She asked me to take Daisy Mae or she'd go to the dog pound. She gave me the dog and an old veterinary textbook she found in Forrest's house, and she left. These are the facts that make loving your neighbor so much more meaningful than loving your own family members.