Love Thy Neighbor

That above ^ is hard to do sometimes!

Right now I literally have neighbors that are driving me crazy. They moved in to the house next door to rent it last Fall. At first things seemed fine. But if they were in their driveway the same time I was, they wouldn't even make eye contact so that I could wave hi. So basically, I didn't say hi to them for months. I am not a talkative kind of neighbor to begin with, but not even wanting to make eye contact ever is a bit strange to me.

One day when we were leaving the house my son noticed the neighbor's little girl playing outside(with her mom who was pushing around a baby brother in a stroller). So he said "I see a girl!" so then we waved hi because they also heard. That was the first form of contact, and it hasn't really happened much since then.

The first issue back then was that they would sit on the back porch late at night talking and arguing on a cell phone with maybe a boyfriend. It was two women who lived there, maybe sisters? And the little kids. Then after awhile a man showed up and seemed to live there too. After that I was never sure who actually lived there.

One day many months ago, I had a knock at my door and it was Child Protective Services (Dept. Children/families). I was surprised but he was there to ask me about those neighbors. He asked if I knew who lived there, if I had noticed any weird activities, and if I ever heard screaming. (!?) I answered the questions and said I didn't hear screaming ever, but sometimes I could hear the adults yelling in the back porch. He took my name. That whole thing made me nervous and concerned for the children there. Soon before that, we noticed cops had been at their house one day and seemed like they told a man to leave the house. So the man and a certain vehicle that must have been his, were not back after that.

Fast forward a couple months and there is a man there again, and I don't even know if it's the same or different. I just know the vehicle from before is not there. And now, we had noticed a jump in activities at that house. Many different cars stopping there during the day, only staying a short amount of time, then leaving. I am sure you can imagine what we think about that. So the cars coming and going during the day added to the annoyance of hearing them outside talking and playing music late at night. Now almost every night I can hear them yapping away, and not quietly, in their garage with the doors open or in the driveway. Our bedroom windows are on the side by their house so we can hear it. I get really mad feeling sometimes but unless it's really loud, I don't feel like I should call the cops. It's an annoyance, I can hear it, but it's not blasting loud.

So this brings me to yesterday when there was a knock at the door and it was a cop! He asked if me or anyone in my house called 911. I said no. He said someone did from a cell phone and it "pinged" between my house and that neighbors house but they couldn't pinpoint it so they were checking both places. I confirmed we didn't call, but I couldn't help by wonder if someone in the neighbor's house really did. The cop might have already tried there and they could have said no. It could have been an accident. But was it? The cop said it could have been someone driving by here at that time too. I hesitated before saying bye and i just said, we don't know the neighbors and I am not sure what they are up to but they seem to have a lot of activity there. Hoping it'd be a hint. But I am sure they must have on record the previous police visit to their house.

So one last thing is that last night they were talking and arguing loudly in their garage at 2 am for awhile. I so much wanted to open my front door and yell SHUT UP to them. But honestly I am afraid to do that because I don't trust those people or know what they have in their possession. I need to pray for them, and if things get too out of control will have to call the cops.

So I am really really annoyed at these neighbors, and I feel bad for the two small children there. The rest of our neighbors for the most part are very nice, quiet people. There has been much less peace around here since the newer neighbors moved in and I know we aren't the only ones who have noticed. So I am just praying that something changes. That they will be quiet, they will stop acting shady, or that they will move.