Won’t you be – won’t you please? – please won’t you be my neighbor?

I got home from a GMAT class last night and was on my way downstairs to take Lucy out when I ran into one my students from that same GMAT class. He lives in the apartment next door to me! I’ve only had this student in class maybe three times now, but it’s just amazing to me that I didn’t recognize him before now. Granted, Omar has only been in Chicago and living with his brother for two weeks (Omar is Mexican and recently immigrated; I can’t decide if he’s only been in city for two weeks or if he’s only been in the US for two weeks. His English is correct, but heavily accented), and I never see my next door neighbor, so it’s hard to know if I’ve even seen Omar in the apartment next door before yesterday.

I do know and like several of our neighbors. The couple at the other end of the hall are parents to Winston, the adorable King Charles Spaniel with whom Lucy attends doggie daycare. “Winston’s parents,” as Wes refers to them, are a really nice couple. We had them over for dinner a few weeks ago (Winston included) and had a great time. Winston’s mom is a lawyer, and his dad is a 2nd-year ENT resident at NMH. Wes has actually had to page him a few times for consults in the ED. We see Winston with his mom and dad all the time and would definitely like to spend more time with them. Our next door neighbors are a married couple – she’s an ESL teacher at an elementary school in the suburbs, and he’s a 3rd-year law student at John Marshall Law School in the Loop. They’re moving to Michigan in June for his new job. She’s looking forward to getting out of the school where she’s working and maybe returning to grad school for certification in psychology. They’re a nice couple but haven’t been overly social. We’ve invited them over once or twice but they haven’t taken us up on our offer. We chit-chat in the hall and enjoy running into each other, but that’s about it. The couple caddy-corner to us also own a dog – Tubby. Tubby is very cute and barks (just a little) every time Lucy goes past his door. I swear she just likes to egg him on. I honestly don’t know the owners names. They seem very nice, though a little odd, but not people who seem like they want to hang out with the new neighbors.

And evidently our other next-door neighbor is Omar’s brother and, well, him. Good to know the neighbors!