God Bless The Child

The other day I wrote that my crazy neighbor had finally moved out. Today I got the skinny from my good neighbor Bob. 

But first I have to tell you about Bob. I'm like most people. I don't really know my neighbors. Or at least I like to think I'm like most people. Maybe I'm only like the fictional character Carrie Bradshaw. Of course I'm a good little displaced Minnesota girl; I wave to them as I'm driving by and nod when I'm walking the dog past their garages but I couldn't care less about their lives - except for Bob & Jo. They're a retired couple from Chicago. Bob is a chain smoker who has skin about as thick as my coffee table. He's an old school, blue collar gruff Irishman. The kind of man who uses his verbs in the wrong tense but it's kind of charming. He always feeds my dog treats and talks to George Bennett when he's barking in the window. His wife Jo is lovely. She's the ruler of the house. You can tell. They just got 2 new puppies. I can't wait for them to be old enough for George Bennett to play with them. So anyhow, back to the crazy neighbor. 

I was out walking George Bennett today and bumped into Bob. "So what happened to the neighbor?" I still have no idea what his name is. But I do know his dog's name is Buddy. "Actually, it's Budweiser but we call him Buddy," he remarked to me when I asked. Am I painting you a picture yet? Bob said that he was sentenced to a year and a half in prison. "Drugs? Domestic battery?" I asked. "No, you'd think though. Naa, he was arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle. He got chased by da cops and crashed into a pole. Yeah, we won't be seeing him for a long time." I think it was just the man and his daughter who lived there. They were the neighbors who had the cops at their place at least 3 times since I've lived here and always had their garage door open, with lawn chairs drinking beer - despite the fact that they have a back yard that butts up against a lovely walking path. Naa, we'd rather look at the pavement and stare at the neighbor's garage doors. Drove me nuts.

I thought back to the day I saw all their stuff sitting in the street. Their (what I assumed was their) family came over and tried to sell their stuff in a make-shift garage/estate sale. They had crap strewn half way into the street. I remember seeing the daughter sitting on the driveway across the street from all the strangers going thru their things, going thru their house. She had her knees pulled up to her chest with her head down, rocking. At the time I thought she was just sad that their house was being foreclosed upon. That's what I assumed at the time. Now I can see she had much more on her plate. Not only was she being forced out of her home but her father was going to prison. What must have been going thru her mind? She couldn't have been more than 15 or 16, too young to be on her own. I wonder if she'll be screwed up for life because of her dad? Will she have bad relationships with men because the male figure in her life made a series of bad decisions? Maybe. But hey, let's be real. She's got just as much of a chance to have screwed up relationships even with superb parenting.

In all honesty I probably won't think about her or her dad ever again. But in this moment, I hope she'll be ok. Her dad is an adult. Yes, he made a mistake and he's got to live with the consequences. We all do. But she's just a kid. She doesn't deserve to have to live with her dad's consequences. God Bless The Child, indeed.