Last week, I went out into my backyard hoping for a quiet moment—and immediately noticed something odd.
An orange extension cord stretched across my lawn like a neon path, running straight from my neighbor’s garage into my outlet on the back wall of the house. I paused, unsure what to think. Maybe it was a temporary thing, I reasoned. Maybe they’d plugged it in and forgotten. But as I traced it more closely, it became clear the connection had been made intentionally—without even asking me. For a moment, I felt puzzled rather than annoyed—we’d always gotten along well.
