Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday, where gratitude gets expressed at the start of every week, which for today is for my partner Chris stepping in to handle a situation that fully spiraled out of control recently with a neighbor I had already experienced a verbal run-in with a few weeks ago that I felt completely helpless to deal with.
In recent weeks, life became exceptionally difficult with a next-door neighbor, someone I wrote about in a prior entry where the principle of “Love Thy Neighbor” had been going in one direction only. For those who didn’t read my prior article on this, up until this spring, I had maintained this neighbor’s yard for years, never asking for anything, simply because I wanted to lend a helping hand to the aging owner who had been really struggling with their health. When they eventually passed away, I was informed that my services were no longer needed by one of the siblings who had moved in. So, I spent this year maintaining a few feet on the other side of our fence given our fence was never built on our property line, as laws back when it was built didn’t allow for that, and I didn’t exactly know where the actual line was. Nothing was ever said about this until a few weeks ago when I trimmed some new grass the sibling had planted in the area in question that I had still been maintaining. That led to their huge explosion and Chris eventually stepping in to handle the situation.
For the first few weeks, he started to maintain the area in question rather than I, and backing off by only mowing a few inches on the other side of our fence. Unfortunately, the sibling was still convinced it violated what they felt was theirs and erected a makeshift chicken-wire fence, placing it directly next to ours. When we came home late one night to discover this, it began a 48-hour cycle of stress and anxiety for me I haven’t experienced since last being on medication for it over 11 years ago now. Thankfully, Chris immediately handled it the next day by calling the police, as he wanted to make sure things didn’t escalate out of control. I wasn’t home at the time, and I’m glad I wasn’t because I had a lot of emotion surrounding it all. Given the amount of blood, sweat, and tears I placed into taking this neighbor’s yard from weeds and violets to a lush blanket of green grass over five to six years of time seemingly meant nothing to them, and it frankly stung, bad. My partner totally kept his cool about it though, even as the police acknowledged how passive-aggressive the neighbor’s action was. They let the neighbor know that and told them as well that it needed to be moved back enough for us to maintain the area around our fence. They further said that it eventually needed to be removed altogether because it hadn’t been properly surveyed and wasn’t approved fencing material. The neighbor said they understood and that it was only temporary to set an example, which Chris remained calm and collective through. I’m grateful he handled it all with such ease, even later that night via text, when he sent a friendly text to the neighbor indicating he only needed a few more inches to successfully maintain our yard and was willing to help them move the fencing the next morning if needed. Unfortunately, the next morning they hadn’t responded or moved anything, so Chris, after receiving the blessing of the police who said he could move it if they hadn’t, did just that. He further promised me he would continue to handle this if anything more should arise, as he knew I didn’t have the desire anymore to be involved, especially given I’m not one of the property owners.
Why this is such a huge piece of gratitude in my life overall is because my partner for the longest time never stood up for things that were affecting more me than him. Chris was raised on a belief system that people should fight their own battles, but sometimes battles in relationships require one partner to stand up for the other, something Chris had never really faced much in life prior to me. This is why I’m grateful to see he’s working on this and wanted to acknowledge that today, especially in how he’s handling this very stressful situation, showing firm composure and support of me for all the pain this neighbor’s actions brought upon my heart.
While I hope one day this neighbor’s heart may soften and be able to feel more of the presence of God to see me in a completely different light than the one they have painted me in, I am filled with immense gratitude on this Grateful Heart Monday for my partner stepping in to fully handle this very nerve-wracking situation from now on. Thank you, Chris, for this. It means more to me than you know…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
