I had many colorful neighbors living in ye old 'hood. Many of which are still there today. Amy Johnson and her mom and dad, June and Tony, whom were never married, still live in the "yellow" house on the left of my house. Her dad has since passed, and Amy's mom, June, has since moved to a trailerhood. But Amy still lives there. She had a little boy with her boyfriend that was about my youngest daughter's age. He was born into a bad situation. His eyes were crossed and he drooled all the time. I taught my girls that it was not nice to make fun of people. They learned. But I hated living next door to them. They locked themselves up in the downstairs apartment they rented from Mr. Curtis Drake at the time, an absentee landlord, doing drugs, drinking, and smoking all day, everyday, day in and day out. There friends would often visit for that purpose as well. The smell from there apartment was nauseating. I became friendly with these neighbors, well, because, isn't that what God would want? "Love thy neighbor" comes to mind. I was friendly, but I wasn't "friends." I was trying to teach my girls manners as well. As Paul, Amy's son, got older, he would come over to play every once in a while.
Then on the right side of my house, lived a spoiled, snotty woman about my age, Cory, whom I was actually one day older than she was, who never had kids or was married. She owned a dog, was an RN in Chesapeake General, VA, and had many boyfriends. She became a hard core animal person. I guess the fact that there were a lot of cats in the neighborhood due to renters moving and leaving them behind bothered her. A LOT!
Miss Barbara moved in not long after we did. She was a sweet lady. Had two older daughters of her own. She got along with everyone! She kept busy with work and traveling. Next to her was a yellow and brown house that was owned by someone from the "other side of the tracks." Please remember, I moved to a small southern town. Mr. Turner lived nextdoor to that house. He was an older man who lived in the neighborhood for forty years before we moved there, raising his family there, and watched the neighborhood deteriorate in front of his eyes. He was a fountain of information.
Carol, another renter, was the only one who lived in the three story house that had been broken up into three apartments years ago. She lived in the first floor apartment. At that time she seemed to be a decent neighbor. It wasn't until she moved out of the neighborhood then back in two houses down the street from me that she became mean and ugly toward me. This three apartment house would later be auctioned to a guy who tore it up and would rent to single moms, like Amy. All the while the four year renovation was going on he would rent to the people who were working on the house. So for four years, we had drug dealers living there.
The house across the street from me on the corner, had been bought by a rental property owner. After destroying the integrity of the home, a single mom with three boys moved in. She didn't stay long because of the neighborhood. Then the house became what we all thought was a half way house for women who were trying to be integrated back into the community. This house must have been unsupervised, because we had a lot of problems with them. Our new association spent a lot of time at City Council meetings complaining about all the houses, but this one in particular. The City would not give us any information on this house. We finally found out that even though we were zoned residential, this house was given a conditional use permit.
Then there were the neighbors that had lived there for many years on their own little plot of land, not paying attention to anyone or anything else around them, and would tell you there was nothing wrong with the neighborhood...
I have many stories to tell about these neighbors and my battle to make our neighborhood more family oriented! I am going to let it all out for the world to read. I am wondering if I am the only one who had a battle like this?
