I've never relished the idea of neighbors. I mean, I mostly have lived in cities where having a neighbor means noise, irritation, and stolen recycling bins. It means cursory glances in the elevator, muffled hellos in the hallway, and strange cooking smells from downstairs. After all, what do we all have in common except the roof over our head?
Key West is totally different. I love my neighbors, and I love hanging out with them. We have lots in common: we all love to get out on the water, we all love to cook great meals from fresh fish, and we all love Key West. You see, most people choose to live here, if they're not born here. To choose to live here is one thing, and then to shell out the dough to actually move here and live here requires determination and lots of financial finagling, if you're not super rich. Therefore, you can reasonable say that Key West people are committed. Which is why there's a greater chance that neighbors will have something in common.
We live in an apartment that's part of a large house that was split up into four units a few years back. Our unit, and our neighbor's unit, face a canal and there's space to put our boats. That right there increases the probability that we would get along: boats, fishing, spearfishing, snorkeling.
Certainly seems that common interests in fishing, watersports, spearfishing and snorkeling seem to draw people together more solidly than say, common interest in working out at the gym. So far, these are really my only two ways of meeting people. Perhaps people are at the gym for so many different reasons, perhaps it's difficult to connect. Plus, you know strange things are going through people's minds at the gym, thoughts related to body image, competition, hating what you see in the mirror, loving too much what you see in the mirror, who really knows. Too complicated, perhaps, for having a simple conversation, too many unkowns, too many vulnerabilities.
