“Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it”
"John (our neighbor, my friend), is dying, and the ambulance guys said if we wanted to say our goodbyes we should do it now" WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!! Panic city...I rush over, I'm not even sure my feet touched the ground. The door is shut, I know I can't go in. I sit and wait...and ..wait a minute?!....The paramedics would NEVER tell someone that! For sure definitely not a random person on the street. What the hell? So I calm down, she's a nut job anyway, and I can smell the booze from three feet away. I'm assuming something is wrong, but I'm not expecting the worst anymore. A few minutes later, the door opens and there stands John in the doorway. He's gray...GRAY. But he's standing so I know he'll be fine. Heart attack. Not surprising if you knew John, but I also know that he's pretty stubborn and he'll be ok. He leaves by ambulance and I'm given instructions to watch his cat as the house keys get passed to me. Phew...that's the least I can do considering...a sigh of relief and a big deep breath.
Crazy neighbor pats me on the back and asks if I'm ok. It was all my might not to push her over and then punch her in the face. I ask..."OK? Are YOU ok?! That was a bit of an exaggeration don't ya think?!" She says, "Well, I just don't deal well with things like this"....yeah, no shit. Crazy nut job.
A few hours later, I get the update from the hospital, all is good, he'll be fine. Like a rock lifted off my chest, I finally calm down and head to bed. Though the night before was stressful, there was a calmness of knowing he would be ok. That night I had one of the best sleeps I've had in a while. I was even up and alert before the alarm went off. Just so rested.
Until I went outside...
The craziness with my neighbor is not new. She's an alcoholic, with mental issues and she's not medicated...unless you count the cheap wine. She has two kids, that she only gets visitation with because of her drinking. It was supervised, but because she's also a good little liar she had those removed and started to have the kids by herself. It didn't take me too long to realize that she was not all there. The kids spent a lot of time at my house, which I thought was very weird considering she only had them a few hours each week!? Then I realized...ah, she's one of those Moms...the ones that only want the kids so the Dad can't have the kids. Most times, the kids would show up at my house five minutes after they were dropped off by Dad and they would stay until five minutes before Dad picked them up. They'd only go home for supper and then would be right back again.
Child protective services was filled in on EVERYTHING, and I guess in the end they decided that Mom was good enough...drunk and all. I guess that's considered a pass for parenthood. As I was told..."it's not like you've never drank around your kids before". Sure, the answer to that would be yes. I've drank, but I know 100% I've never been fall down drunk around them. My word against hers, nothing I can do. Anyway, carry on a few more months, same ol' crap. She's just plain horrible. A very sad, pathetic lady. And so it seems, there's not a damn thing I can do but make sure that I keep the kids here as much as possible. It's gotten to the point that I don't plan much around their visits so that my home is always available to them.
Tonight, I'm getting home from yoga, and "Dad" is in her driveway. Weird...he always picks the kids up by 7pm and it's almost 8:30 now. I jump out and ask if everything is ok? Nope...turns out crazy neighbor has barricaded herself and the kids in her house because she decided she wanted to keep them tonight. The cops are here, and in her house trying to calm her down (Perhaps she should give yoga a try!). Finally, they come back outside again. The house is infested with fleas, the kids are covered in bites, the house is "unsanitary and unhealthy" for children, so they call CPS and get permission to remove the children. It takes a while, some screaming and yelling from crazy neighbor but finally they get the kids out relatively quietly and in to Dad's car.
I've never felt such relief as tonight. I said goodbye to the kids and I'm not even sure if I'll ever see them again, which makes me very sad yet happy all at the same time. It's been over a year of worrying, and stressing out, and trying my best to deal with the situation. In the matter of an hour it was all over. The kids are safe, and will be so much better off. I'm a firm believer in the fact that two parents are not always better than one! Even on her best day she's still despicable so this is nothing short of a miracle that they were taken away before she did any more harm to them.
As the kids pulled away, and the police drove off, it was all I could do to hold back the tears. Tears of joy, tears of relief, tears of PEACE!
I get the feeling tonight's gonna be another great sleep!
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