I'm writing to you for a bit of an offbeat reason. I live next door to a couple, a little younger than my wife and I. They have two younger kids in grade school. Recently they also brought in two teenagers, their nephews, whose mother has been having some personal difficulties.

We live in a neighborhood where the houses were built in 1928. Their house hasn't been expanded, and neither has mine, although a lot of people have been able to expand their houses over the years. Since our houses are the same size—about 1,300 square feet, three bedrooms, one bath—I have to wonder where they're putting two extra kids! At this point you're probably wondering why I'm contacting you. I have
three kids of my own, two teens and a toddler, and I know just how hard it is to maintain intimacy with a spouse under these conditions. I cannot imagine having four kids, two of them teens, and attempting to keep up a sex life!

My neighbors are obviously really great people making a sacrifice to help others. They're not rich by any means. With four kids they're probably in the bottom of the middle class. I was wondering if you knew of any organizations, charities or fundraisers or something, which could help maybe just give them a quick weekend away. Just enough for a hotel room and childcare for a day or two. I'm not thinking of a trip to Aruba here—just a quick weekend away from the house to reconnect. They deserve something like that. If you could pass on any ideas, I'd appreciate it.

Nice Eggs In Georgia Haven't Been Overly Rewarded

I don't know of any charities that provide weekends away for standup people with large families, NEIGHBOR, but I do know how you can help. Go and talk to your neighbors, heap praise on them for doing right by their nephews, and then offer to keep an eye on their kids once in a while. The nephews, being teenagers, most likely don't need or want babysitting. But they might be up for hanging out at your place with your teenagers while you're keeping an eye on your neighbor's younger kids.

Don't mention that you're making this offer because you wanna make sure they're still fucking each other on the regular, NEIGHBOR, as that would be creepy. Just let 'em know you're willing to provide them with a little gratis childcare. An evening off every other month or so will be a much bigger help to your neighbors than a single splashy weekend away ever could—and you can make that happen for them without having to form a 501c3.

In other words: be the charity you wish to see the in world.