The Neighborhood

So far I only have two complaints about the apartment Jacob and I live in and they are both very minor.

1. The kitchen is too dang small. Imagine doing your dishes and cooking in an airplane bathroom. If you leave one dish or box of crackers on the counter it feels like the whole place is a mess.

It's a bit of an exaggeration, but it is small.

2. The walls are thin and the neighbors are close.

On the side of our apartment is an assisted living center. I am pretty sure there is an old guy in there with bronchitis. About every 15 minutes or so you'll hear some horrible sneezing followed by him coughing up a lung. More often than not the coughing is followed by lugie hocking and nose blowing. This whole process usually lasts about 2 minutes or so. I am pretty sure this old man has a grandson that visits pretty often and plays Grand Theft Auto extremely loud. Every once in a while you'll hear screams and gun shots with the sound of screeching tires from the TV and the boy will shout a profanity loud enough for the whole senior home to hear... without their hearing aides.

Across the street there is a trailer park with all sorts of interesting people. One trailer has a confederate flag hanging in front. Something I thought I would never see in Idaho. A couple times a week you'll see a women going for a walk in short shorts, a loose tank top with nothing holding her in, and hair with a perm gone wild. I should also mention that those short shorts should be a bit longer. Not just for modesty's sake, but also because it looks as if there is a three dimensional map of the United States from her thighs to her ankles. Anyways, the noises from the trailer park usually consists of loud cars, old people bickering about which road to take to Wal-Mart or the Family Dollar and mothers yelling at their children phrases like, "BOY, Quit picking yer gosh dang nose." I swear one day I heard one of these mothers yelling, "Emma lou, come back in here or I'll pull of one of yer pigtails off yer pea-sized head."

I don't have many complaints about the people upstairs. It just sounds like they run when ever they move from one room to the other and they drop heavy objects on their way.

As for the people down stairs, and on a more serious note, I don't think they realize I hear everything. And I mean, EVERYTHING. I don't know who they are, thankfully. The husband can be so rude to his wife. He says very derogatory things about her body. Not that she is ugly or fat, but definitely things I don't want to write on my blog. You can just about bet on an argument once a day and tears a least once a week. Today really got me. She had made enchiladas for lunch (I told you I hear everything) while her husband was gone. When he got home and heard they were having enchiladas he just about hit the roof. He just started yelling at his wife like crazy. Here is how the conversation went. This isn't very descriptive, it's just what I heard.

Husband:"ITS WAY TOO HOT TO HAVE ENCHILADAS! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" (he was seriously screaming at her.)
Wife: "I am sorry, I have just been wanting them for a while and I had all the ingredients..." Husband: "I don't care. I don't want this. Go make me something else."

At that point the conversation became muffled and I couldn't hear everything, but it sounded like he was being a complete jerk for next ten minutes until he finally apologized. I felt horrible for that girl. No one deserves to be treated like that at all, especially when she made her husband a nice lunch.

Someone once said at a BYU-Idaho devotional (unfortunately I can't remember who it was), "The golden rule is old, but not outdated." I know the golden rule sounds really simple, but for what it's worth, it's important that we remember that, especially with the people we care about most.