Have I become THIS? :
Yesterday was one of the most peaceful, mellow, love-filled days I have had in a long time. I spent it at "Camp Brotherhood" north of Arlington at a retreat for the new church choir I joined 2 weeks ago.The whole day was filled with music, connecting, laughter, and lots of fun.
I was so excited to meet these nice people and feel accepted by them. The music is great. Our first performance is September 27th.
Then, life came crashing down.
The twenty-somethings who inhabit the rental house next door threw one of their all-night parties again.
But, I was feeling so mellow and relaxed that I didn't call 9-1-1. I didn't yell for them to shut up, even as their noisemaking woke me up at 3:00, 4:00 and 4:30 in the morning.
I thought, "well, they have a right to blow off a little steam".
Then, when I went outside my front gate around 11:30, I found the beer cans and bottles littering my little parking strip. Two of them were across the street working on a car, and I lost my cool.
I started screaming at them. I said "This is Unacceptable! " "You have to move OUT!". And to punctuate my point, I started hurling all the beer cans and bottles back on their yard. For the first time in a very long time, I was so angry that I was shaking.
My street used to be overrun with drugs and prostitution in the 1980's. Then, neighbors and the city worked together to close the under-pass that used to take school children to elementary school by giving them safe passage under Aurora Avenue. It had become a haven for prostitutes and drug dealers and worse.
A few new homes were built on the street, and eventually, the crime went away.
Now, my neighbor across the street has moved a 7-foot-long blue cloth couch onto the front yard.
And today, beer bottles litter the street.
People have worked too hard to return my neighborhood to those who just want a quiet place to sleep and call home.
I don't want to be the screaming old lady who is laughed at by everyone.
But this is unacceptable.
