A few months later, they bought a new SUV.’ My husband and I have lived in the same house for 23 years. Our next-door neighbors have been in theirs for 19 years, and for most of that time we thought of ourselves as friends rather than just neighbors. They might have been better off than we are, or not.
Either way, that really never bothered us. We socialized together from time to time. We had different priorities and used to joke about it: they liked going on cruises, and we had never been on one.
Over the years, we borrowed from each other: a ladder here, a snow shovel there, the occasional cup of sugar (metaphorically speaking, not an actual cup of sugar). We watched their dog when they traveled, and they collected our mail when we were away. When a tree came down in a storm, my husband was practically in their yard with a chainsaw before they’d finished calling the insurance company.
They weren’t “hands-on” when it came to house stuff. They brought over a bottle of wine after the tree was removed, which was kind, though it was a $9 bottle for a job that would have cost them several hundred dollars. We liked them and were happy to help.
About three years ago, I started to notice that their finances no longer seemed to match their lifestyle. The vacations, new cars, and home improvements continued, but they began talking about money in ways they never had before. **Related:**I got two email invitations from friends. Is this a phishing scam — or am I suddenly popular?
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