Neighbors... and Rainy Days

It must be the rain... and all of these cloudy days. As I type, it's pouring outside. Again. Too much rain... I believe it's getting to everyone. We're sun-starved in southeast Texas. I just spoke to my sister on the phone... how can it be that right this very minute, it's warmer (with lots of sun!) up in NY?

The neighbors... it's been strange since the weekend. Our neighbors V & B went away for the weekend to see their older daughter at college. While they were away, their younger daughter was home. Ah... no parents... let's invite a couple of friends over. Two friends turned into five.... five turned into ten. Ten made a lot of noise... which got our attention being that it was nearly midnight.

My husband went next door. "Are your parents home?" We already knew the answer. My husband didn't say much to the daughter, not wanting to embarrass her in front of her friends. But S ran after him, catching up to him by our front porch. I had gone outside by that time, to see what was going on over there and I heard S begging my husband not to tell her parents.

Before my husband could say anything, two more cars of teenagers came down the block, headed for next door. I told S to get right out there and tell the kids in those cars to go home. Which she did, gratefully, it seemed to me. Then she came back to our front porch. We told her to go into her house and tell everyone to go home.

S didn't want to be all alone. We compromised. I told her to pick two of her favorite girlfriends and ask them to spend the night with her, but everyone else had to leave. Immediately. She agreed and that's exactly what she did. Gratefully also, I might add. Kids just don't realize how quickly situations can get out of hand.

S begged us not to tell her parents. I told S that we wouldn't say anything to her parents, but I expected her to tell her mom and dad about the weekend's activities when they got home. We gave her a hug and told her we loved her, which we really do. Poor S... she's in the shadow of her older sister and she never feels "perfect enough."

Moral of that story--- parents shouldn't compare one child to the other. Every child is perfect in his/her own way. And if a child feels less than perfect, he/she might make less than 'perfect' choices in life. (P.S.... we haven't said anything to V & B... but I'm hoping that S did.)


Our neighbor ML across the street has been away since before the weekend, tending to out-of-town family. ML lives with her mom and when ML is out of town, M is home alone. We always keep an eye out for M when she's alone. M is in her mid-80s or thereabouts and gets around quite well and drives all over town, but still, it makes her feel better when we know that she's alone.

And this time, she isn't exactly all alone--- she has ML's little dog there with her. ML usually takes the dog with her, but this time, she left the dog with her mom. The dog is a five-pound Yorkshire Terrier with fifty pounds of terror in his little bitty soul. He moves so fast that all you see at times is a flash of gray and brown fur. Way too fast for M to handle all on her own. Plus, they have two cats, which the little Yorkie is always chasing after. An accident waiting to happen for an 80+ woman who walks with a cane.

To add to the mix-- the phone isn't working over there because the cable company cut the wrong wires in their yard. M has a cell phone, but it's only working if she takes it outside and stands in one particular spot on the front walkway. (Can you hear me now?) I brought my cell phone over to M last night and showed her how to use it. This morning, I brought over the charger for the cell phone in case she needed that.

We fixed that little dog out on the screen-porch, so the door is open and he can bring himself out into the backyard grass if he needs to, rather than jumping up all over M every time he wants to sniff the grass and bark at the trees. Which he does constantly. M told me this morning that the next time ML goes out of town, she's going to tell her to "Take that little sucker with you!" (Her words, not mine.)

The cats seem more at ease over there with that little dog on the porch. And that's another thing... poor M couldn't kneel down far enough to clean out the litter box for the cats, so I took care of that this morning as well. Then we got to talking, and she told me how much she loves to cook soup for herself when ML is out of town. I asked her if she liked lentil soup and I took her some of the soup I made yesterday.

Moral of that story--- don't expect an 80-something-year-old woman who needs a cane for support to be able to take care of a hyper-puppy who barks at trees and chases cats from one end of the house to the other.

As I said... it must be the rain. This is usually a very quiet street.