This is a long story but I am going to try hard to make it short. We lived next door to a small woods, an acre or so of trees and birds and little critters. We were the last house on a dead end street in a residential area. The land is a rocky ledge like much of Massachusetts. I never actually walked in that small woods, but it was rather nice to have green space in the middle of the city. One day two years ago some tree cutter equipment arrived and I freaked out and called George at work almost in tears. Turns out they were just trimming some neighbors trees to make room for a swimming pool. We breathed a big sigh of relief. Then someone came and put red ribbons on some of the trees and a surveyor showed up. Months passed quietly. Then one day we came home from work and someone had come and cut down all the trees in the woods, leaving only some on the edges, and we found out that neighbors who owned the woods had cleared it to build a house for their son.
Months passed. All we had were dead and dying trees, and piles of wood and rock. Then they cleared all that out and the dynamite trucks came and blasted for seven days. That was horrifying. George thought our foundation might be cracked, since they were blasting within 20 feet of our house. I was worried about the china cabinets and the man from the blasting (not blasted) company came in to talk with us. He was nice and kept us relatively calm. It was still very loud and very scary.
Months and months, then a year, passed. All we had now next door was a pile of rock and rubble. Turns out the city did not give the permits necessary to go further and the neighbors banded into a group and went to the city to protest the horrible conditions of the lot and the affect to their property values. They moved the fire hydrant. Months passed. Then, last week, when I was sick with a virus for 5 days at home, workman came in droves with jackhammers (yes, loud!) and carpenters, and cement trucks and back hoes and poured the foundation. Then two days later, huge trucks arrived with shrinkwrapped pre-fab forms on them. Neighbors congregated to see what the commotion was, and children watched the busy workmen. Then yesterday we came home and there is a huge house there. A house was put up in one day. It looks like a skyscraper to us, although they are calling it a "cape". It is just wood now, no siding, but when I come home from work tonight, who knows what will have happened.
Of course I would rather have the woods and the birds and the small animals. But we are also happy not to have a lot full of rock and rubble. Maybe someday we will have landscaping and trees and a house to look at rather than a lot that looks like the far side of the moon.
We count our blessings as we do when anything bad happens. Our lot now has much more sun, and we plan for a much bigger garden, more flowering trees, borders of tulips and since good fences make good neighbors, a new fence to be a backdrop to the flower border. And we have fewer old trees to look at and far less leaves to rake in the fall. Our house was in almost full shade and now it is in the bright sun, and we will paint it a brighter color and scrape the mildew off the roof. There are upsides and downsides. But having more sun on our heads and on our flowers and beaming in the windows is a nice thing. Having neighbors next door rather than a dark woods may be a good thing too. I have to admit that sometimes at night, being that close to the woods spooked me a little bit. And, the young man who is moving into the new house seems like a nice enough fellow. So, we will count the good things and not mourn the old.
You can't stop progress.
