Neighbors

How does that scripture go again?

 

"Love thy neighbor as thyself."

 

That's the one!

 

Why, OH Why,

is it so hard to do?

 

In the "generic" sense,

you think,

that's not so hard.

But then....

your home is sold,

you move into "interim" housing

and your new neighbors move in

six weeks after you do.

They complain about you the

VERY FIRST NIGHT!

And the complaints just continue

piling up.

"You're noisy"

"You stomp at all hours of the day and night"

"You do laundry at 5:00 a.m."

"You woke us up at 2:30 a.m."

 

Oh,

and they don't speak to you,

they speak to the ladies at the Leasing Office

who then convey the complaint to you.

 

First your mind catalogues

(okay my mind -- cause this has been my life)

all of the reasons that they are wrong.

First --
"I'm not even awake at 5:00 a.m."

"They were already awake and smoking at 2:30 a.m."

"You live in AN APARTMENT, there will be noise!!!"

 

The complaints continue.

The Leasing Agents are frustrated.

We are frustrated.

They are frustrated. 

 

Then I start to think how it would be if
we lived downstairs. 
Maybe they are sensitive.

Maybe I should be kind.

Maybe I'm judging them harshly.

Maybe they should be thankful

that we don't have 4 children,

aged 4 to 9 years-old,

running around....

Maybe they should be thankful that there

aren't more teenagers here.

Maybe they should be thankful we don't have

2 or more DOGS!
Wait!  Wait!  Wait!
I was trying to put myself in their shoes...

 

Maybe I should be kind!

Maybe I should love my neighbor as myself.

Because....if it were me....

(I think I've discussed that before)

I wouldn't want the noise.

I wouldn't want to feel unhappy all the time.

I would want to enjoy the space I pay for....

 

My neighbors aren't so different from me,

are they?

 

The Leasing Office determined that the floors

would need to be stabilized in order

to alleviate the noise level.

 

For the past two days,

we have moved furniture,

had workers here, pulling up carpet

drilling screw into the sub-floor and joists.

Joe & Gabe

fixing the floor.

It was quite a process.

They drilled right through the vinyl...

After they found the joists, they drew lines,

and drilled away.

The rest of the house they had to pull

up the carpet and complete the process.

I was thankful that there were a few things we

didn't have to move.

 

To say that I was dubious about this process

making a difference in the creaking floors,

is an understatement.

However,

it worked!

The floors no longer creak!

That is not to say that the neighbors won't still

hear us moving around occasionally.

There was no sound-proofing done.

We still live in an apartment.

I'm not confident that the complaints will stop.

 

But we tried everything we can to

change the situation.

 

Today the carpet layers came

and fixed the carpet and put in new

vinyl....it looks like wood.

This is the new vinyl.

I LIKE it!

 

I was trying to be kind,

but alas I couldn't completely pull it off.

The neighbors were gone all day

yesterday -- when the drilling and such happened.

We were here all day to move the furniture.

Today, while the carpet layers were here,

the neighbors were home.

Each time they pounded and bumped the

carpet into place, I sort of rejoiced

that the neighbors were sharing our pain.

I secretly hoped that they went

to complain to the Leasing Office

about the noise.

 

I am a work in progress!

I really want to be kind and

"love my neighbor",

but sometimes it's harder than others.

Believe me, I've had conversations with God

about this....and He is patient with me, because

He loves the neighbors too!