You don’t expect the biggest fight on your block to be over something as harmless as a backyard trampoline. And you definitely don’t expect it to center around a disabled woman whose entire world is built on routine, comfort, and small daily joys.
This woman has a 24-year-old sister who has Down syndrome and a couple of health issues. She’s her sister’s legal guardian, and her sister lives in her house.
Her sister is incredibly kind and wouldn’t hurt a fly. She’s never been a nuisance to another human being in her entire life, because that’s not in her nature.
Her sister has a little trampoline in their backyard, and she uses it practically every day, as it’s an important part of her routine.
“Her occupational therapist actually recommended it years ago because the bouncing helps with her sensory processing and it calms her down,” she explained.
“If it’s raining, she has an indoor one in her room, but when the weather’s nice, she’s out back on it every afternoon like clockwork. It’s her thing. It’s been her thing forever.”
“[A] new neighbor moved in about three weeks ago. Almost immediately, she started complaining about the trampoline. Said the bouncing noise bothers her. Said it looks trashy in the yard. Said my sister is too old to be jumping on a trampoline, and it’s weird.”
The trampoline is quite small, and it is located inside her backyard; it’s not like it’s on her neighbor’s property line or anything like that.
Additionally, her sister doesn’t make a peep when she’s out there on the trampoline aside from humming a bit from time to time, but it’s so quiet you wouldn’t notice unless you were standing directly beside the fence.
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Her neighbor called their city to complain about the trampoline being a code violation, but the city came to see it and said it wasn’t.
Since the city didn’t force her to remove the trampoline, she figured her neighbor would cut it out and quit waging war over it.
“Yesterday, my sister goes outside for her afternoon bounce like she always does. I’m inside making dinner, and I hear her screaming,” she added.
“Not happy, screaming like scared screaming. I run outside, and my neighbor is standing at the fence with her garden hose pointed directly at my sister, spraying her in the face. My sister is soaking wet, crying, and trying to get off the trampoline and slipping because it’s wet now.”
“I lost it. I ran over and told my neighbor [that] if she ever touches or comes near my sister again, I will have her arrested for assault. She said she was tired of the noise, and my sister is a grown woman who shouldn’t be acting like a child.”
She let her neighbor know she had to move away from her fence, and then she went back into the house to call the cops as promised.
Her sister spent the next hour utterly distraught. Today, her sister was scared to go outside. Her neighbor ruined the routine that has provided her sister with happiness and stability for years.
She went ahead and filed a police report earlier today, and she’s left wondering if she was wrong to do that and refuse to remove the trampoline.
I would be petty enough to go out and buy the biggest trampoline possible and put it in the backyard if I were her. Also, she should install security cameras while she’s at it because I doubt this will be the last run-in with the neighbor, and now she will have video evidence to arm herself with.
I think she did the right thing in getting a paper trail going, because I don’t see the neighbor calming down anytime soon.
What do you think?
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By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
