Some people would say that our life is pretty crazy- 4 kids, 2 dogs, several chickens, enough extracurricular activites to keep us busy for months at a time, etc etc. But that is just us and how our life is. Generally we like it pretty peaceful- do our activities and come home to our home where we can feel safe, and secure and comfortable.
That, however, has become increasingly harder to do as our neighbor over the garage goes further and further off the deep end. She has always been a bit out there. But my philosophy was to stay on friendly terms and avoid lots of headaches. It was working well, if you ignored the fact that she constantly bombarded me with her increasingly strange stories. For example, one day she came over in a panic because she truly believed that someone broke into her home and stole 2 pork chops. Another time she was sure someone had been in her house while she was gone because they had left a small white feather in the middle of the livingroom floor. She frequently told me that "they" (I have no idea who "they" are) would stand outside her windows and record her conversations and then play them back so she could hear them. She also was convinced on many occassions that these same people would sneak into her house and move her things around. It all sounded so sad to me, and I tried my best to stay on friendly terms with her because she didnt really seem to have anyone.
But then her behaviors got stranger. She would tell me about fights that she had gotten into with people when she was younger- actual violent fights. She came over one night and was angry that the town was refusing to pay her rent, and she threatened to go up to the offices and attack someone there. She started hitch hiking and showed me the knife she carried with her while doing it. She was starting to worry me. Then, for reasons known only to her, she decided we were on her blacklist too and it became her personal mission to get my daycare shut down. She called in an "annonymous" complaint stating that I let children play in/with dog and chicken feces. My worker came to visit, found nothing wrong, and I filled her in on the background a little bit. Little did we know that that was the start of almost weekly calls to my worker. She actually identifies herself now and proceeds to berate my worker and make threats against us. The last call was apparently a good one, as I was surprised with a couple of sheriffs at my door letting me know that she had threatened to take and axe to our chickens. She had also admitted to periodically leaving cat poop at the bottom of our steps. I learned after that, that she has also been calling the town offices and complaining about us. When I told the landlord what was going on he insisted that she is "harmless" and he has a history with her and doesnt see the need to do anything.
Do I really think she will do any harm to any of us or our chickens? No, I don't. But she has gone too far this time. For too long living in this house I have tried to make things better for her. I keep the kids quiet, we stay out of her side of the yard, keep her parking spaces open for her, and generally try to leave her alone and give her her space. She, in return, has made it impossible for us to feel safe and secure and comfortable in our own home. She is making it difficult for me to run my business, which supports my family. She has taken the security and comfort out of our home. My children deserve better than that. My husband deserves better than that. My kids should be able to go out and play in their own backyard without worrying about watching for "the scary lady". I should be able to have daycare clients drop their children off without worrying what she might say to them. I should be able to go to sleep at night without worrying what she is doing or who she is telling her crazy stories to. And I certainly should be able to live my life without having the state police and sheriffs department know my name and address with familiarity.
So with all the new twists in the crazy neighbor story, Justin and I have decided it is time to start looking for a new place to call home. That is a task that is easier said than done of course. Where do you move 4 kids, 2 dogs and a daycare? Especially when you add into the equation that we are not in the position to buy a house just yet, so we are looking for a rental. Its going to be a long and very daunting task, but I just dont think we have been given other options. She has clearly made her position: she wants us out. And our landlord has made it very clear that, despite being backed by the sheriffs dept, the town office and my state licensing worker, he is not going to do anything about it. We just want someplace that we can really be at home in. Someplace that we can settle and STAY in. We want to find our HOME.
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