Staying Inside

It's raining out and I am climbing the walls since I have been up since 3 AM. My dog got the backyard treatment but I am ready to RUN in the sleet. Instead of running I had my leftover waffles and toast and coffee.

A friend of mine is being harassed by his councilman neighbor and wants to get away from him by buying a house and moving. "Don't move, that's like me deciding I have to move to Canada because of Donal Trump. I don't want to give him that much power. I LOVE my home and my city. Plus, whose to say you won't have one bad apple in your new neighborhood, or country. I like to ask myself 'What's the silver lining?' There has to be one. Maybe it's knowing that everyone else on the street loves you and your kids.

"I feel trapped. I want to strangle the guy for not letting my kids play in my yard. They are perfectly good kids," he said.

"I know. I love your kids, they are great kids. We had a neighbor like that growing up. Mrs. Ross. She lived in a big house covered with tall bushes and a ten foot chain link fence. We called her the witch. She had red scraggly hair and she even gave out apples on Halloween. Mrs. Ross would call the cops whenever we were playing in the neighbors pool. The police would come and apologize and say they had to tell us to quiet down, on a perfectly hot summer Saturday. Mrs Ross complained because we were having fun. As it turned out Mrs. Ross lived alone and her basement was filling up with hundreds of empty wine bottles. As my friend Keith Munslow says 'Just remember the karma police work 24/ 7. But still there might be something good in all of this that has yet to reveal itself," I said.

"Every time my kids go into the yard to play my neighbor calls the cops and any inspectors or surveyors that he can get hold of in the town hall, they come and say to him 'There's nothing wrong here, he's just raking his yard,' but now my kids are terrified of the councilman and they come running inside whenever they see him. The neighbors are too afraid to say anything because he's a councilman and he's a powerful scary dude. We hear him shouting curses at his wife. They drink heavily and scream at each other breaking things. He even stormed over here last August during my 4 year olds birthday party. He actually called my daughter a c--- in front of everyone, and one of the parents was here with his kid. He's a local cop. So now the police know the deal," he said.

"My butcher had a similar problem at his vacation home on The Cape. He said 'It was a teachable moment for me and my kids.' Talk to your kids and explain the situation. Trust that the bad behavior will catch up with him, but for now, let your kids play further down the street with all of the other kids and families who like you. Come to my house and we'll make art with the kids or bake. There has to be a silver lining," I said.