Caring neighbors are as American as eating turkey on Thanksgiving.
Kate Cross has those kind of neighbors, and they're what she's thankful for on this day dedicated to counting one's blessings.
Cross has lived in her neighborhood on Goshen's far north side since 1996. Eight modest homes constitute her cul-de-sac in a subdivision that's really no stranger to the concept of coming together. Block parties and neighborhood play dates, craft fairs, even parades have been the norm here since the 1970s.
"When you know people, you know what's normal and what's not -- and that's caring. And it's genuine concern, not gossipy," said Valerie Smith, Cross' next-door neighbor on the left.
Cross' children are grown and moved away, and the unmarried Cross works full-time -- making home maintenance and security an occasional challenge. But Fran Fraser, across the street, is retired and doesn't mind keeping an occasional eye on Cross' home while she's at work. Smith, by her own admission, has been known to keep eyes on strangers to the neighborhood, both human and canine.
Cross has had her lawn mowed and driveway shoveled by a nearby teenager, and her bushes trimmed -- in spite of a bees' nest -- by his parents. But the kindnesses don't end there, which she said sometimes makes her feel a little guilty for being largely unable to repay them.
"Oh, but you do," Smith and another neighbor, Fran Fraser, respond together.
"It's nice to have someone nearby you can talk to and trust," Fraser adds, smiling at Cross.
Her co-workers in Mishawaka tell Cross all the time that she should move closer to her job and eliminate the long commute. But she's not seriously entertaining the idea, in large part because of her caring neighbors.
Last winter, she remembers, a glitch in her garage-door opener meant that it wouldn't close when temperatures fell below zero. As a result she was forced to lock up the house and go to work with the door up one day. She got a call at work later that morning from a concerned Fraser, who offered to keep an eye on the house from across the street until Cross got home.
"My boss asked me, 'Your neighbor does that for you?'" he was really surprised," Cross said.
"Their concern gives her a sense of trust here that isn't often felt these days, she said. In Cross' neighborhood, she knows that someone is willing and available to help out if she should need anything.
"I am so thankful for them."