Under Your Nose

Grammapat was right, in her comment yesterday. I found my hobbit right under my nose, and very close to home this afternoon, rustling around in the thicket, cutting branches of the evergreens to tidy up his hobbit home.

I guess since the rains will come tomorrow, I will leave him alone for now. Everyone knows it is difficult to catch a glimpse of a hobbit unless the light is just right.

On another note, while standing on the edge of our yard today, looking at the neighbors empty home, I found myself wondering why 'saying goodbye' has grown out of fashion for so many. Neighbors who lived beside us for many years, and with whom we have had many a friendly chat, just packed up and left awhile back. It must have happened during my work day, because I didn't see them getting ready to go, and I surely would have appreciated a last goodbye.

It gave me pause to wonder, do people truly think that they are so insignificant to the people around them, that no one cares if they go away without saying goodbye. The list of folks whom I have come to love and enjoy having in my world, but have disappeared in similar fashion, from work, from church, from the neighborhood, has grown way too long. It is just too easy to leave without saying goodbye these days. It makes my heart sad.