“Serving overseas as a small-town boy from America is intense, stressful and humorous! Enjoy a light-hearted story with me from our last 20 years overseas!”
—Matt
Silent shabbiness
It is not uncommon in any place in the world to be annoyed at times by how a property next door is being kept up. The neighbor’s dandelions are starting to take over your yard? Less than excited about the neighbor’s dog who loves to incessantly bark? Frustrated by the neighbor’s shabby yard that could use a bit of tidying up? It is a good sign when these are one’s biggest life frustrations.
I was getting whiney about a shabby lot right across the street from an apartment we were living in overseas. The shabby lot was beginning to accumulate trash, waves of weeds, and attracted people who abandoned old cars. I was so happy one day when I realized that a local construction company put up signs that they would begin work on a large apartment complex with store front shops. I celebrated the no more shabby, unkept, vacant lot, but didn’t realize what I was in for.
When a lot is prepared for construction in small-town Indiana, it often means a day or two with a bobcat or bulldozer to level and prepare the land. However, overseas we live on solid volcanic rock. Zoning regulations mean that a basement garage is required to alleviate parking problems on streets. It means no bobcats to prepare the lot, but rather industrial sized jack hammers of different types. So for us it meant headache producing “ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta” every day, Monday through Friday, from 7AM to 5PM. The jackhammers had to break up, dislodge, and remove 1.2 million cubic feet of solid rock to prepare the entire .86- acre lot.
It took months to prepare the lot for construction and our apartment’s walls would rattle when they jackhammered along the property line closest to us. Many days I dreamt of the QUIET, shabby, unkept vacant we used to have. However, the project eventually came to an end, but I often wondered if “silent shabbiness” was better than “construction commotion.”
Something similar ever happen to you? Contact me and let me hear your story!
Matt’s Mishaps, PO BOX 114, Grabill, IN 46741
