NEIGHBORS

  I’ve been a resident in this neighborhood/house for fifty-five years. During all those years, the neighbors have been mostly friendly and helpful if help was required. Over those years, I watched their kids grow up as they watched mine. I have a lot of very fond memories of the folks that inhabited the houses in this neighborhood.

Unfortunately, time passes; and while I’m still here, the majority of my favorite folks and their/our children moved on to new locations for one reason or another. There’s only one other person in the neighborhood who’s been here longer than me and she turned 100 in September. I’ve a feeling I’ll be the eldest, longest residing neighbor in the not-too-distant future.

What’s caused me to reflect on all those years, those neighbors and the replacements who now occupy the houses around me is the fact I cannot do anything that would be personally satisfying because what I’d choose to do is undoubtedly illegal and would be recorded on someone’s camera. Still, I remain annoyed and thought getting those annoyances out through my fingers might be helpful to me.

I was fortunate enough to have one neighbor for thirty-eight years. We got along famously and were comfortable enough to borrow an egg, a cup of sugar or whatever our recipe lacked from each other. We simply met at the fence and handed over whatever the other one required. They were older and ill health necessitated their move.

Initially, the family that moved in seemed like a good fit, that is until he began to send us emails and letters about the fact our mutual fence was at least one foot on his property. He wanted that one foot back. Well, we didn’t erect the fence, the original property owner did so, and once a fence has been in place for thirty-eight years, it cannot legally be removed and replaced so the neighbor can recover that one foot of ground. This might not have been quite so annoying if John hadn’t been fairly ill at the time.

The house behind me was owned for many years by my son's best friend’s family. This family allowed me to put my yard waste behind our fence as well as my cutting back ivy, blackberries, morning glories and weeds so they didn’t grow through the fence. Again, initially, this family seemed as though their occupation of this property would be just fine. I did check about placing yard waste on their property and ceased doing so when they responded to my inquiry asking I not do so. This was just fine. At one point, I asked about the English Laurel and with agreement (they hated it as well), my sons went back there and cut it all down. 

As I had done for the entire time I’ve lived here, I continued to police the area next to the fence to keep the weeds from coming through. That appeared to be just fine until this fall when my granddaughter came over to cut and rake back the weeds from the fence. There was some yelling back and forth which I couldn’t hear because I wasn’t wearing my hearing aids. My granddaughter told me the woman was going to text me. I put my hearing aids in and my phone in my pocket.

No text came and all was quiet until my granddaughter yelled for me to come behind the fence. There stood a Lake Forest Park Policeman. I was trespassing and it didn’t matter that I’d done this for fifty-five years. It’s not my property. He hoped we could settle it amiably with us going back through the gate and remaining on my side of the fence. When the weeds grow through, then I can cut them back…great, just great.

My final annoyance has to do with the motion sensor light across the street. Once before, over a year ago, I asked if the light could be repositioned so it does not shine into my bedroom and into my eyes. Supposedly, it was moved; however, now that the trees are losing their leaves, the light shines right into my bedroom. 

This time I sent an email asking to have the light readjusted. It comes on when cars drive up and down the street, the neighborhood cats walk through the yard or the wind blows hard. I received an email back claiming I’d asked to have this done more than once (not so) and that they thought it had been fixed since I hadn’t brought it up (leaves on the trees blocked the light). My request for a readjustment was denied (a safety issue) and I could choose between having it on all the time or having it remain as is. Well, I certainly don’t want it to be on permanently.

So, the light remains as it was; however, I took care of the problem myself. I taped a large piece of aluminum foil over the part of the window through which the light shines. It no longer shines directly into my eyes. And, yes, I could pull the shade closed and eliminate it altogether, but it’s not a choice that would work either. I sleep with my window open 365 days a year and when the wind blows, it makes the shade move and make noise which wakes me up. My problem, right…right.

The remainder of my neighbors are just fine. We chat, wave from our cars, visit each other now and then. Still, I wish the neighbors that originally occupied these three houses were still here. But, as people keep telling me, life moves on, things change, and I just need to adjust.  So, okay, by writing this, I’ve decided I’m adjusted!!!