Do you know your neighbors?

I happened to look out one of my windows yesterday just as several cars pulled up to a neighbor's house.  The occupants of the cars were all carrying flower arrangements into the house.  My first thought was they're having a party.  Then as the processional of flowers into the house continued, I realized No, there's been a funeral.  I quickly went online to check what funerals were scheduled for that afternoon and hoped to I find that the funeral had perhaps been for an elderly parent of the couple that lives in the house.  But much to my dismay, no it wasn't an elderly parent.  No, it was my neighbor who had passed away.  She had passed a week earlier at age 51.  51!!  That's my age!  How sad!  How very sad for the family. 

But what has bothered me most since I learned about this is the fact that I didn't know.  This woman has been my neighbor for 22 years.  We smiled & waved; had brief conversations on occasion.  But, I didn't know she was sick.  Now that I think about it.  There were some clues that things were different at their house.  I just hadn't put the pieces together. 

But darn it!  What has happened to our neighborhoods?  Why don't we know our neighbors any more?  I know a few of ours.  And we've been close friends with a few through the years.  Why do the good ones always move away?  But really, I don't know my neighbors and they don't know me.  Is this a good thing or a bad thing? 

Yesterday, it felt like a bad thing.  It felt inhuman.  It felt very isolating.  With social media I know what someone that I went to high school with had for breakfast or where they're vacationing this year even though I haven't seen them in 30+ years.  But I didn't even know that my neighbor was ill and had passed away a week ago.  Really?  This saddens me.  I don't yet know how to fix this, but I'm going to do some things differently going forward.  It might seem old fashioned and it might not be welcomed by everybody, but I'm going to try to get to know my neighbors better than I know them now.  I'm going to start with sharing some of the abundance of lettuce that I have in my garden right now. 

Do you know your neighbors? Would you know before seeing it in the obituaries that one of them passed away?