Thank you for all of the supportive comments I have received throughout the years in regards to my multiple-year neighbor drama. I appreciate the support a lot, because there were many times this neighbor dispute drove me into a deep depression.
Due to financial limitations, I was not able to move away from Brunswick. But, if a time ever comes that I accrue enough money to leave, I will indeed move to another town altogether.
I have decided the next place I buy must be a single family home with its own driveway and plenty of space between my home and the houses next door. (By the way, while I had the crazy neighbors on one side of me, on my other side I have lovely, fantastic neighbors, so I need to give the nice neighbors some kudos for being such wonderful people.)
OK, I avoided writing about this situation for about one year because I was still processing everything–all the emotions, all of the stress. I also wondered how best to present this update without upsetting people along the way. I will do my best.
About one year ago, my family and I were awoken in the early morning hours by what sounded like either a gunshot or thunder. Thunderstorms had been in the area that night, so we all went back to sleep, assuming it was a thunder crack.
Well….it wasn’t. What we actually heard was the mean man next door shooting himself in the head. Yes, the harassing neighbor who made our lives miserable for more than one decade killed himself. With one bullet, all my troubles with that man ended.
He was survived by his common law wife, who quickly remodeled and put the house up for sale. The house did not sell, so renters moved in. The renters are normal and nice, and I have no quarrels with them, for which I am grateful.
So, one might think “Oh! Problem solved, neighbor is dead! Now everything must be fantastic for you!” Sorry to report, that is not the case. Things for us in Brunswick are okay now, but not great. This whole neighbor drama for 10+ years has made me deeply distrusting of people, and that is a problem I need to work on. The common law wife still owns the building next door, so she could pop up here any time (she was pretty mean and evil to us for multiple years, too), so I don’t like that fact. It makes me anxious to think I could come home from work one day and find her standing in front of me, insults at the ready.
In addition to being more cynical and distrustful of people now, I no longer enjoy my yard. I used to love to try garden and cultivate flowers. Now I am afraid to grow food anywhere in the back yard where someone could try to poison it again. I stopped hanging out in my own yard years ago, because the evil neighbors would pop up all the time, mowing their lawn and such. Now that they are both essentially gone, you would think I would want to return to my yard. Nope. Being out there makes me feel exposed. So I try to grow a few things in my front yard and keep it neat, but in general when I come home from work every day, I tend to stay indoors.
I still have the car that the mean neighbor tapped with his massive pickup truck multiple times. The marks his license plate bolts made on my back bumper are still visible (because it chipped the paint). You can see little pairs of chip marks all in a line (because he tapped the bumper multiple times). At least one day I discovered he tapped someone else’s car, too, so maybe that was just old age instead of him trying to bully me.
This is my first August since I moved in that nobody has given me shit about the droppings from my crepe myrtle tree in the front yard. That’s nice.
But in a way, these evil neighbors ruined this town for me. I know they are not solely responsible for that, but I would say about 85% of my dislike of this place is because of them, and because of the people who I went to for help who simply shrugged and said, “Well, unless you can find a witness, we won’t do anything.” Hmm. So physical evidence of his vehicle repeatedly tapping mine, leaving tons of pairs of matching bolt marks that line right up with his license plate’s bolts, is not evidence enough to take action, huh?
I guess I still have some healing to do. You can hear the bitterness in my tone that shows I am not “over it” yet, even though the main culprit is dead and gone.
I continue to live here, only because I have no other financial options. Whenever my money situation is better, I am out of here…I am tired of parking struggles, fire hall sirens (although they recently shut the siren down, thank goodness), nasty people like the dead man, and feeling helpless when I need help here. I want a fresh start somewhere else.
Let’s end positive, though. To the nice people I have met here, including my neighbors on the other side, thank you for being you. Thank you for being nice and neighborly. I am sure the endless parking problems bug you, too. I truly am grateful for those of you nearby who are goodhearted. I’ll try to get over my bitterness and learn how to trust again. I’ll try my best to see the town in a better light. We’ll see how it goes.
And to all of you still facing daily or monthly neighbor disputes, I feel for you, and I empathize, and I wish I was magic so I could make it stop for you. I send you all vibes that your neighbor disputes will soon end, so you can breathe again, and learn to trust again. Not all people are evil, so try not to let your mean neighbor ruin your ability to interact with and make friends with others. Living with a psycho neighbor can be all-consuming and can make you feel so alone and powerless. Just know there will be an end to it, even if it feels endless; it cannot last forever. I believe in karma, so I believe those people who choose to make their neighbors’ lives hell will eventually have to atone for it.
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