A few weeks ago my husband James had a conversation with one of our neighbors that rubbed him the wrong way.  This was a man that we hadn’t met before even though he lives at the end of our block.  James felt that the man’s behavior during their conversation was erratic and even more cause for alarm was the fact that the neighbor mentioned our son.  Our son walks Chili Dawg the puppy every evening and obviously the neighbor had noticed as well, but according to James, the man was a little too interested in The Boy.    He told our son to stay clear of that neighbor and me too.  I didn’t think much of it until I was walking the dog myself one morning and the neighbor called out to me–thinking that I was The Boy (we do look alike).  I kept walking and later confirmed my husband’s suspicions to our son–stay away from that man.   We couldn’t quite put our finger on it, but there was something “not quite right” about him.

In general my husband is very trusting and open to everyone; he’s one of those people who talks to strangers on the plane and in line at the grocery store.   On the other hand, I am not like that at all; I do not trust easily and I warm up to people slowly.   But when it comes to our kids, James is more guarded than I am and more concerned about their safety.  Most of the time I soften his safety reigns and let the kids do things–even if it means that they might get hurt.   However, when it comes to “creepy neighbors” I trust his instincts.

And he was right.  The other day I arrived home in the afternoon to see 2 police cars and a police van at the end of my street (not a normal occurrence on my quiet street).  Come to find out that the creepy neighbor was taken away in the van; someone called the police because he was outside brandishing a pitch fork and shouting wildly.    What we didn’t know before–but felt in our interactions with him–is that he has psychiatric problems.   And lately he hadn’t been taking his medication and spiraled out of control.  From what I understand he is a nice guy when he’s on his meds, but can quickly turn irrational when he isn’t.   I think we met him on the down swing.

He didn’t hurt anyone; hopefully he’ll get the help that he needs and resume his medication, but I’m so glad that we trusted our instincts.

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