My Neighbor is Back From the Dead!!

Oh my goodness- this is NUTS!

So, when Sal and I were in Wisconsin for Kim's wedding her weird-o cousin-in-law called to tell her that her neighbor, Ralph, had died. Now, we were not BFF with Ralph or anything, but he is a great neighbor and was awesome during the hurricane. We were appropriately sad (while dying from Montezuma's Curse) and we really didn't know his wife at all- so we've just kind of been avoiding their house. Which isn't really hard since it's all the way on the other side of the pasture. Anyhow...

We got to actually know Ralph about 4 years ago when he ordered a ton of Hummels (little German antique statues) for his wife for their 30 year anniversary because they had to sell her collection years before to pay for family, kids, house, etc. It was totally adorable. He had all of the Hummels (about 15 or so) delivered to Sally's so his wife wouldn't find out. Except we kind of worried she might think he was having an affair because all of a sudden he was over frequently. But that was his problem.

So the other day (about a month after Ralph's sudden death) a box for him shows up on our porch. We totally freaked out because we were going to have to deliver a gift to the woman from her dead husband! FREAKY! I completely bailed on Sally and told her that I just lived there and it was really HER neighbor, so she was on her own. After a few minutes of deliberation, Sally decided to call over there and let the wife know. I thought the wife must still be pretty upset (I mean, it had only been a month) because when Sal asked for her she immediately followed that with OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! and burst into tears. Then she found the nearest chair and crashed into it and I was a bit concerned. I almost burned the kitchen down with the bacon I was cooking when I hear her screech into the phone, "Ralph, You're ALIVE! I thought you were dead!" Then she explains into the phone about the telephone call from her weird cousin-in-law about her neighbor Ralph being dead and how he is her ONLY neighbor named Ralph. Thank goodness, Ralph took this well. He handed the phone over to his wife and said, "Here honey, it's Sally. She wants to tell you that I am dead."

I know you're laughing right now. I actually am too! But at the time it was completely creepy, I tell you! I walked the box across the pasture to a very alive Ralph (so surreal!) and told him he was looking better than ever.

We have no idea what Ralph actually died.