I am tired. Insomnia has kept me awake for the last two
nights, and though my child is sleeping peacefully, and my husband as well, the
dog has peed and my eyes are heavy, I cannot drift away into a dream. Why?
Well, tonight the cause of my sleepless state is not because of my insomnia,
but because of my neighbors.
Again.
For those who have followed my incessant annoyances about my
neighbors, thereby becoming annoyed themselves, please know I am not simply
whining here, but trying to squeeze out some sort of lesson from the madness
and inconsideration. Brief back story:
When Jason and I moved to Florida, we found our complex and
it was a blessing. We had a cute two bedroom apartment, and it was quiet and
perfect. When we found out Adaline would be joining us, as well as my mom, we
upgraded to a three bedroom in the same complex. I sincerely regret that
decision. Since moving into an apartment with three bedrooms, we are surrounded
by young, transient, and highly inconsiderate neighbors. On each side (except
for one) the apartments are noisy, rude when approached, and extremely volatile
(for lack of a better word). It seems someone different lives in each apartment
every day, and each new resident is nosier and more rude than the last. The
apartment manager will not allow me to file a formal complaint, even though I
have tried multiple times. And, no amount of cookies or threatening seems to
help them understand the consequences of their actions.
So, here I sit…
Tired. Very, very tired.
I can honestly say I did not hate young people nearly as
much as I do now before this living arrangement.
Our current situation is this – our lease is up. We could
move if we wanted. Which is the most annoying part about all of this. We are
paying an extra $75 a month to continue to live in a place that we really hate
month to month. BUT – we have an offer in on a house that is a short sale, and
it is literally taking FOR-EV-ER. So, we cannot sign a year long lease, or even
a six month lease elsewhere, because any new lease would eventually be broken.
Essentially, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Noisy neighbors or
more renting for at least another year. Both require patience that I often feel
I do not have.
For most that know me, I don’t really take crap very well. I am blunt. Straightforward. I will call you out if I think you are being ignorant or prideful (two of my biggest pet peeves). I am nice about it, but I do not enjoy ‘game play’.
My neighbors seem to thrive on it.
I tell them they are loud, and they decide to throw a party.
I call the police, they get a police scanner. I bake them cookies, they empty their
grill on my front porch…
So, what am I to do? Well, as I read scriptures on my kindle
while listening to what can only be described as what a nightclub sounds like from the bathroom, I ran across Matthew 5:39 –
“But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever
shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
Dang – it.
So, as much as I want to put on my husband’s pajama pants,
and go next door in mama bear mode to remind these guys about the law that I
have reminded them about at least 5 million times (which is the noise ordinance
for the city of Tallahassee – no overt disturbances after 10 p.m.) I have opted
to write a blog post about it instead. This is my effort to turn the other
cheek.
I will recognize that
they are young and have the right to make mistakes.
I will hope that one day, they have a baby that someone wakes up and they remember me and maybe feel a little regret. Just a little.
I will pray that they can have softer hearts towards all their neighbors.
I pray that I can have a softer heart towards my neighbors.
I will wish one of the new residents between now and when we move will be nice when I bring a baked good with a friendly reminder about how loud they can be and the effect that noise has on my family.
I will turn the other cheek, for no other reason than I am commanded to.
I am going to give them the other cheek for a while, too. The non-confrontational cheek. The cheek that doesn’t call the cops at 10:01. The cheek that leaves the cookies on the doorstep with no note – just cookies. The cheek that smiles when I see them instead of trying to figure out if they are a visitor or a new roomie. The cheek that has all my patience stored up.
Maybe we will see immediate blessings from this – like the
fact that they just turned the music off. Maybe we will get into our home
faster because the Lord is pleased with my cheek turning. Maybe we will get so
many blessings from this that I will never think of a neighbor as bad ever
again.
Maybe none of that will happen, but turning the cheek is the
choice I have made and I intend to build my mansion in Heaven with smiles,
patience, brownies, patience, no more calls to the police, patience, waves, and patience.
Say a prayer for me as patience is not my strong suit…
