A couple of weeks ago, I finally moved in with my husband, which was supposed to be the beginning of a wonderful chapter in our lives. I had no idea that my husband’s 15-year-old son from a previous marriage, named Dave, would prove to be a difficult obstacle to overcome. Though I knew there would be some period of adaptation, I did not expect such an attitude towards my efforts to make the house our cozy place in the form of piles of garbage that Dave, as if on purpose, left scattered throughout the house.
At first, I thought it was a temporary situation, perhaps a teenager’s version of chaos. But days turned into weeks, and the mess only seemed to grow. Empty chip bags, crumpled papers, and discarded clothes adorned every corner of our once-pristine home. It was as if a tornado of teenage negligence had swept through, leaving behind a debris field that would shock even a loving mother.
My comments and requests for cleanliness had no effect on him at all. It was like talking to a wall. I wanted to stop this and somehow decided to act outside the box.
One day, when Dave left for school, I came up with a plan. I was going to defeat this trash invasion, which required a strategy that went beyond mere words. Wandering around the house, armed with trash bags and determination, I picked up every piece of clutter that had settled into our home. I was on a mission to teach Dave a lesson in responsibility.
His room, the center of chaos, was my first target. When I walked in, I was greeted by clothes strewn across the floor, a maze of crumpled papers, and a collection of half-empty soda cans. Without pleasure, but with a feeling of determination, I began to put all the items that were scattered in garbage bags. Papers, cans, his clothes, everything was packed into the bags together. In the end, the room gradually turned from a disaster zone into something resembling order. I packed all the scattered clothes with other trash in a bags.
A similar fate befell the living room, kitchen, and even the bathroom. It was a time-consuming task, but I was sure that if words could not reach him, perhaps these bags would show him how much of a mess he left behind.
Couple gathers neighbors to repair elderly woman’s home, but wait till you see the result
Anne Glancey, an elderly woman from New Jersey, received three violations from the municipality because of the state of her house which was deteriorating.
Among the rest, there was an old car on her driveway which she needed to get rid of, or at least park it somewhere else. Further, she allowed her lawn and house to become overgrown and covered in peeling, chipping paint.
Sadly, due to her age and lack of finances, there wasn’t much this woman could do to renovate her place.
Luckily, Anne’s neighbors have been people with a heart of gold, especially a couple living near by who heard of this lady’s struggles from a real estate agent who was selling their home.
In an attempt to help Anne keep up with the repairs to her home, they gathered around 20 volunteers from the neighborhood and did the job themselves, and oh boy, what a difference they made.
“Anne was, and is, extremely grateful for our dedication to her property and her soul,” neighbour Kristin Polhemus, the initiator behind the project, said. “The project has inspired her to continue improving her home, inside and out, and it established new relationships between Anne and our neighbors.”
Source: Krisitin Polhemus
“These violations imposed a fine of no more than $1,000 per day, per violation. We knew we needed to help, as these fines would quickly surmount for anyone in Anne’s situation,” Polhemus said. “In life, we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. We wanted to help her out of an act of love.”
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