We returned from this last road trip to find that our old neighbors have moved out and new ones moved in.  We knew this was going to happen, but because of our busy schedules and traveling, it slipped our minds.  It was a nice surprise, trust me.

The home we live in was built by my wife’s father in 1972.  He was a bricklayer by trade, so the home is a solid design and has fantastic character in its bones.  We bought the home from my wife’s parents nine years ago and have slowly been adding our own touches to it.  Most of the neighborhood is people who have been here for twenty years or longer.  Except the house on the corner next to us.

When we first moved in, there was a lovely old couple next door who spent a small fortune on amazing landscaping for their yard.  They sold the place shortly after we moved in (due to their ages and the upkeep on an acre was getting a bit much for them) to another couple and their daughter & grandson.

This next family built a huge addition on the home- a large carriage house connected to their home.  This was for their daughter and grandson to live in.  They moved out a few years later because they wanted their grandson to  attend a different high school and wanted to downsize since the grandparents were now looking after him full time and their daughter had moved away.  I’m not sure of the reasons for her leaving, because it’s never my business to be nosy.

I wish this happened to our previous neighbor.

They sold the house to a couple in their mid fifties.  These new owners were downsizing from twenty acres to the one acre.  Immediately they tore out a portion of the fantastic landscaping and built a workshop/garage in its place.  Within a few months, the lady started complaining about our children playing outside.  She told us they were disrupting her peace & quiet and had she known kids lived here, they never would’ve bought the house.  This was during the noisy construction of their workshop…  I don’t know how she could have missed the fact the there are kids in the neighborhood since you could see into our yard.  We have a tree house, a bright two story pink and purple playhouse, a zip line & a trampoline set up.  Not to mention the elementary school one block away.  Throughout that first summer, it was rather uncomfortable being in our backyard and we dubbed the neighbor “The Wicked Witch of the East”.

One time, she stood along the property line waiting for one of my kids to run by.  She yelled at my daughter making her cry.  My daughter came into the house and told us what happened.  I went over to the Witch and told her she made my daughter cry and  her response was that our children make her cry everyday and that they are horrible people and should not play outside.  I was ready to lose it, so I told her that if she had problems with the kids to talk to my wife or I.  Later that summer, I had to phone the police on her because she had set up her stereo speakers on the side of her house, aiming directly into my backyard, cranked her music and went into her home.  The police showed up fairly quickly and she was fined.  The police spoke with me and were on my side since it’s just children playing and they couldn’t hear them being overly loud as they went over to our neighbor.  After that moment she never spoke to us again, or try and do stupid things.  Her husband was nice, and I spoke with him from time to time.  The kids were never mentioned.

They sold their home to a new family.  Today I went over and introduced myself. This family has two boys and a home business.  The husband is really nice, and I told him that we were glad a family was back in the house.  I explained a bit about the run-in with the lady who owned the house previously.  He then shared that when they had walked through the home with his family before purchasing it, she flipped out on his son when he sat on the bed.  It would seem that she didn’t like kids at all.  He also told us about how she hid some defects of the house when she showed it to them.  Based on hearing this, I’m glad she’s gone.

I’m happy to have new neighbors.  They seem nice.  I hope they stay longer.