Life's about compromise.

I have to laugh at myself on occasion.  The boy next door came into our yard after his ball. 

I always get a little territorial and want to bark; but I didn't. 

HIM, I don't mind.  He uses the gate, properly.  He closes it when he leaves.  He does not climb on, or damage it, in any way.  He gets the ball, and leaves. 

The kids renting on the other side?  Totally different story.  They treated my yard as community property, climbed over my husband's hand-constructed gate (breaking it), tore boards off the fence to gain access to the yard, and I caught them peeping in my windows.  The little fart just stared at me - "What?"  You're staring in my window.  "So?  You have a lot of books."  I should add, the house is set back from the street, and one has to walk across private property to look in a window, past the curtains and miniblinds.  They had no concept of "boundaries" or "property line". 

I thanked God when they moved out.  The current tenants?  Some of them are  illegal "immigrants".  They are messy.  But they are quiet and the girls never use the yard. 

I'll call him Mr Diaz.  He has lived next door for at least 7 years.  The boy who came in my yard just now was a toddler when I moved in.  He's a good kid, and his Dad has been great.  If I have to have a neighbor kid in my yard, I'm glad it's them. 

Not to mention, I thank God it is them; because my zero-property-line bedroom wall is the property line.  They could really make my nights miserable.  They don't. 

And Mr D was very nice about helping me turn off my water when I had the broken water line.  Life's about compromise.  I can live with a ball retrieval now and then.