There are some things I'd like to not have to discuss with Nixon. Things that he shouldn't even have to worry about at his young age, not things that I find uncomfortable to talk about because the reality is there's very little I won't talk about with Nixon when asked.
Today, Nixon and I had a breakfast date planned. We got up, dressed and were ready to go...I mean, in the car leaving, when I saw something that didn't look right happening in our subdivision. I normally go out of my way to avoid getting involved in matters that don't concern my, unless someone or an animal is being harmed. Today that was not the case, but I got involved none-the-less.
I saw 3 vehicles, including a truck with a large trailer filled with what looked like trash, taking items from the vehicles and placing on a large and growing pile just about 5 yards from my backyard and less than 3 feet from an immediate neighbors yard. I know our home owners association is a stickler for a neat and tidy appearance of the neighborhood and this was an eye sore to me, I can't imagine what they'd say if any of the board members saw it.
Even though I had Nixon in the car with me, I stopped. I told Nixon I was only going to be a couple minutes and I went to find out what the frack was going on, because to me it looked like a bunch of random people dumping shit in the subdivision.
I'll skip the boring part: It turns out it was an eviction, served by the sheriff's department. According to Maryland law, personal property of an eviction notice served may be left on the curb for up to 48 hours. Or something like that. I actually called the county police because while there was a sheriff's car, I saw no sheriff in the area of the trash being piled/dumped. I took Nixon with me for that, because I wasn't comfortable leaving him and walking more than the 5 feet I'd walked to inquire about the dumping. Nixon says, quite loudly, "Hey you guys are making a big mess! You need to clean it up, right now!", as we were walking to find the sheriff.
The end result of all this? The following conversation with Nixon:
Nixon: Mommy, why were those people making a mess and leaving all that stuff on the ground?
me: Well....it seems the person who owned the house had to get the people living in the house to move out because they were not being good somehow.
Nixon: Like they were talking back?
me: *laughs* No, not like that. They were adult naughty. Something happened and the courts decided that they can't live there anymore.
Nixon: So they can't take their things?
me: No, it looks like they're being petty by making that mess. They seem to act like they're already naughty so their going to be even more naughty.
Nixon: Oh....I don't get it.
me: Okay, let's try this: If you were to hit me, and I sent you to your room for hitting me, would coloring your walls with crayon be a good idea or bad idea?
Nixon: Oh, I don't hit you Mommy. It makes you sad. And it's naughty.
me: I know, and I'm glad you know that. But would coloring on your walls be good?
Nixon: No. That'd be really naughty!
me: Okay, I'm glad you understand that baby. Those people are basically doing a grown up coloring on the walls by leaving that mess.
Nixon: That's not nice. It looks ugly!
At breakfast, I made sure Nixon understood that we're not going to get forced out of the house. It seemed like something was bothering him and I was pretty sure he thought we might get evicted because he didn't fully understand. I told him that we are good people and we make sure we're paying out bills on-time so we don't have reason to lose our house.
Once we talked about that, he was much better and we had a wonderful morning together.
