Talking about the neighbors yesterday reminded me about a story Mary told me. When Michael and the twin were pre-teens and living in the projects, they came home crying because kids said they were going to beat them up. Mary told them to get back out there and to defend themselves. Learn not to be scared. Learn not to be bullied. Learn to defend yourself.
She was tough.
Just a couple of times I have seen Michael's “project eyes” as I call them.
The one time I remember was when William was just a toddler. We had never heard a peep out of these neighbors who were kitty-corner to our back yard. Their son was a student at Stanford. They also had a hot tub and several of his friends over to clearly celebrate something.
Around 2:00AM, we were awakened by music blasting away and loud hoots coming from the friends in the hot tub. Michael grabbed a pair of pants, no shirt, no shoes and went out to have a chat.
He peeked over the fence and said, “Hey. It’s 2AM. Turn down the music.”
They looked at him and continued to party.
This is where the lessons from the projects kicked in. Michael, in one leap, was standing on top of the fence. With that “projects look” in his eyes, he said very firmly, “Either you turn down the music or I will come down and turn it off. If I have to come down there, someone is going to get hurt.”
With that, they turned off the music and went inside the house. His eyes said he meant what he said and that he was able to back it up.
We have never heard a peep from them since.
If you, dear reader, knew my sweet, quiet, soft-spoken husband, you would not believe this happened. I also know that over 25 years later, there is no way he could jump onto the top of any fence these days!
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