Things blew up. My little outburst to the children at the bus stop resulted in my neighbor totally losing it. I sit on the board of our neigh Home Owners Association. I was away on a business trip (literally a one day turnaround, flew out in the morning and back in the late evening) and had to miss a meeting with the community. The neighbor I've had problems with stood up and demanded my resignation from the board. She went on to say that I'd harassed her and abused my 'power of being on the board', then she accused me of threatening her child so much so that she needed to ask neighbors to watch him while he was at the bus stop. Okay, threaten her child? Oh my goodness! I guess complaining to a bus driver that kids are placing others at risk is now considered a 'threat'.  They continued to stand in front of my community and accuse me of things that were completely untrue and I wasn't there to speak for myself. After telling my mother and I that they had wolves they went on to provide a note from their vet stating that the animals were 'dogs'. (A vet friend of mine told me that if someone told a vet their pets were Malamutes there would be no way for them to know anything else) and accused us in front of the community of spreading lies about them having 'wild animals'. Hmmm... who told who they had wolves? Never mind the constant howling.. .we didn't need to say a word to anyone to have the questions start swirling.

I've started to wonder how something like this could have happened. How could we have moved into a neighborhood, wishing for nothing more than friendship and have ended up in a position where we are targeted with hostility and hatred. This same neighbor tried to file a claim that I was harassing her. Even the Sheriff's office said they have no basis for their accusations, no basis for a claim.

I've had a feeling that I haven't wanted to voice for a long time now. When I look at my behavior, I know I'm far from perfect... but I've truly reached out to every one of my neighbors with friendship and good will. I received irrational emails from the neighbor in question and I responded again and again that I wished for nothing but peace between us (peace and a bit of quiet in the evenings).  I feel threatened and have to admit, I've been in tears most of this evening. It's crushing and humiliating. To have vicious lies spread about you and believed... to have your words twisted and misrepresented.

I know what I need to do, I need to pray for them. It's the only way to find peace but I'm struggling doing that. I'm scared... scared of what this kind of hatred can turn in to. I'm stunned that people that I've been kind to can be swayed to believe one person's accusations vs. what their personal experience has been. How do I create a safe and loving environment for my family, for a child that's already experienced rejection and pain when we're surrounded by such negatively and hostility?

I have to admit I've been so disturbed and frightened by this aggressive behavior and public display and attack that I've reached out to our Sheriffs office and asked them to 'keep an eye' on our home. They've agreed to take this seriously and to do drive by's to keep an eye on things. They were very compassionate and understanding...

Something I've wondered about, felt for a long time but wanted to ignore has surfaced as a question. Is it racism? Does this hatred and irrational behavior stem from our bi-racial family? A part of me feels a resonation of truth in this... but perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps it's not that... it's just one person believing something of someone else that is simply, not true.

If you pray... please keep us in your prayers. Pray for our neighbor to have peace in their hearts and pray for Kajal, my mother and I, are pets and our home... to be safe.