What have I gotten myself into?

Last week I was pulling weeds out of the front flower garden when a car pulled up in front of my house and a man got out and walked up the driveway. I hadn't planned to be outside for more than a minute — I was just putting a letter in the mailbox — so here I was in my pajamas as Wayne Guthrie, the new president of our neighborhood association, introduced himself.

He said that he'd seen what I'd written about the Russet Meadows Homeowner's Association on my web site. My first thought was "uh oh." I didn't remember exactly what I'd written, but I knew it wasn't positive. It turned out, though, that Wayne and I were very much in agreement with the way things had been going in the organization. Because of Wayne's "big mouth" at the last meeting he ended up getting appointed as vice-president, then when the president moved away he inherited that role. Anyway, he stopped by to tell me that he intended to see that things improved.

Cut to a week later. Last night at the RMHA meeting, things were indeed running more smoothly. What was odd, though, was that every time I went to make a comment, a group of people would try to direct attention to me, saying "listen to what he has to say." Before the meeting was over, there was a call to fill the vacant vice-president position. Since no one else volunteered, I offered myself as a candidate. The group immediately voiced its endorsement. I wasn't sure if they'd genuinely appreciated what I'd had to say during the meeting, or if they thought, "sure, let that poor sucker do it." Either way, I wound up as the new vice-president.

Mingling after the meeting, I talked to a few of my neighbors. They inquired about Emily and Buttons and Mango. As it turned out, Wayne Guthrie wasn't the only one who'd read my blog. Apparently, someone in the neighborhood had Googled "Russet Meadows" and came up with Impending Distractions. Word got around with the board, and other people started reading it as well. As Misty pointed out, our neighbors now know way more about us than we do about them.

Hi, neighbors!