Since there is a bit of a pause between the correspondence of the apartment management and myself (it’s been busy – I haven’t given them my latest letter yet), I decided to post my reply to an anonymous commenter from the last post. In order to fully understand this reply, please see his/her comment here.

And, Anonymous, please know that I did enjoy your comment and coming up with this post. If we all agreed with each other, the concept of blogs would never have gotten off the ground. So with that in mind, please don’t take offense to the following:

Anonymous –

Thank you for adding some dimension to this little discussion. You’ve made my day, or at least my children’s naptime, at little more interesting.

Yes, someone must have a problem with my laundry, be it a neighbor or management themselves. And yes, that is the origin of this whole ordeal. And yes, I might have lost sight of that amidst the fun I have had with my letters.

However…

I would like to think I have more of a right as to how I do my laundry than a passerby with overly strong opinions. And if they cannot prove to me that I signed a lease restricting my laundry rights, then I see no reason to stop.

I agree whole-heartedly with Jes and would like to you take a deep breath and realize that you own your lawn and your house. Your neighbors own theirs. You are responsible for yours; and they for theirs. You cannot make the whole world align with your preferences, so rather than to keep trying and end up with an ulcer, I’d like you to just let go, relax, and understand that others have their own lives, their own reasons, and their own preferences. One neighbor parking a company truck in his own driveway and another using his ingenuity to fix his own car in his own yard is no reason to be irritated. Yards were not invented to merely look pretty. They serve whatever purpose the owner of the land chooses for them. And believe it or not, driveways were invented to park cars, vans, and even company trucks.

So please don’t be disturbed by my “blatant disregard for the feelings of [my] neighbors”. I care for my neighbors and I respect their opinions. But I will not bend over backwards to satisfy them. I have my own preferences, too, you know. I would rather they not store propane tanks so close to me and my family. And I would prefer they not smoke so close to said propane tanks. Especially on windy days when their secondhand smoke flows downwind onto my balcony, into my apartment, and yes, even onto my freshly laundered clothes on the line.