EAST AMHERST, N.Y. — Inspirational, funny and thoughtful phrases aren't just found in memes on social media. A different message can be found posted in the window of an East Amherst home each and every day. The woman who is trying to bring a smile to those living around her is this week's 2 On Your Side "Good Neighbor."
Laura Teplitsky is an empty nester and pre-school teacher who found herself out of work when the pandemic started in March. Out of boredom in isolation, she made a sign and hung it in her daughter's bedroom window facing the street in her Stable Ridge neighborhood in East Amherst. Then she made another sign the next day, and then another.
"I realized this thing is not going away and people really love these notes on the window so I'm going to keep doing them," said Teplitsky. "It was my calling to do this to make people feel better."
So everyday since March, Laura has made a window sign.
Some are timely for the holidays, saying: "With Respect, Honor and Gratitude, Thank You Veterans!" and "Ghosts and Goblins Come to Play on October's Final Day."
Others are silly jokes: "Why did the turkey cross the road twice? To prove he wasn't chicken!" and "What does a bird say on Halloween? Trick-or-Tweet."
Every Sunday she scrambles the letters so neighbors have to slow down and figure out the phrase.
Some signs features Teplitsky's random thoughts: "Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?" and "Favorite Things Today: 1. Carving Pumpkins 2. The Voice Blind Auditions 3. Hot Apple Cider."
But the most important and meaningful signs are Laura's hopeful messages during the darkest of times: "Just a friendly reminder, there is no right way to feel right now" and "Life is a balance of holding on and letting go" and "Breathe. This is just a chapter, not you're whole story."
Her inspiration for each daily sign comes from many place. Teplitsky says sometimes she'll have one completed the night before, and wake up in the morning and change it because she thought of something in a dream. Other times friends and and even neighborhood children will make suggestions. Teplitsky says she saves every sign because they've basically become a calendar and journal.
"It's amazing when I look back at these signs and think of what our world has been through in this time," said Teplitsky.
They are powerful messages of hope, inspiration, support and kindness and Teplitsky plans to continue making the signs daily until a vaccine is readily available. After that? Teplitsky says she might not make a sign daily, but she'll continue making her window signs "forever."
She says she found her passion.
"Everyone has their own way of contributing and it was my little thing that I could do in this big world. It is truly my honor and my pleasure," she said.