I remember my first post here. I am sure it was a prequel to the mommy's mental health series, but I remember how intimidated I was by the blank page and what people would think of me. As it turns out, just being me has been more than enough. Authenticity, for me, no matter what I'm talking about is key. This series has also allowed me to work through some very tough inner demons and I am so grateful to actually have been able to share my journey with you. It's been like journaling but with interaction from likeminded people who have let me know I'm not alone.
That being said, I have had a very hard week.. which is why I have been hiding and not posting every day.
We had an awful experience over the weekend. We have a guest house/ air BNB right next door to us and for some reason (probably due to noise complaints in the past from the complex on the other side) guests do not use the garden at the back and most of the partying goes on in front of the apartments, which is directly in our line of fire.
It's... cheap accommodation so the guests range from families in a budget ( who rarely cause any issues) to migrant workers from elsewhere in the country who take the opportunity to spend company money on excessive amounts of booze, prostitutes and cocaine. You can see the car quickly come and go at 3am. It's not rocket science to figure out what is going on. I have had so many conversations with the owner, which unfortunately eventually turned sour, leaving me with no choice but to contact law enforcement and the police when there is a serious issue.
Look, I'm not a stick in the mud, but I am a mom. Wester Cape City bylaws are pretty much inline with what I am willing to tolerate. Excessive noise is not permitted during the week between 10pm and 7am and on weekends its Midnight till 8am. I can live with that.
My pain and excessive anxiety also cause breaches of these laws to completely rattle me. I find it extremely difficult to fall asleep as it is. The lighting is terrible at night so there is no real way to video the offenders from my phone.
This weekend, we had a bunch of kids descend on us. They partied right through the night on Friday, all day on Saturday and until midnight on Saturday night when they were finally removed from the premises by force - with police and the owner of the property. Multiple complaints were filed, aside from mine and severe action was taken. It was just as well because they broke furniture and had absolutely no respect for the units they were staying in or the owner.
Apparently, they had boked two out of four units, being two couples coming for a weekend away. It turned into between 15 and 25 matric rage students who went all out and got completely plastered. We even heard a few of them running into the main road in front if our complex and almost being hit by cars.
Yes, the noise was horrific, but what really shook me to my core was the aggression and accusations of racism thrown at us as if we laid noise complaints because of their ethnicity. Upon being evicted, they threatened our family with violence, specifically myself but mostly directed at Zak who went to confront them before law enforcement arrived.
Zak weaponed up in our bedroom with whatever we could find to protect ourselves, as the man who threatened us was cemented in our minds, and realized just how vulnerable we are. Luckily our property is surrounded by an electric fence, but it would not be hard to sneak in behind an incoming vehicle and hide in the shadows.
Physically, it has taken me days to recover. With Zak needing to put 1000% into his course, he has been coming to bed at 3am in the morning. And I wait for him... Normally when he comes to bed, his presence sooths me and I fall asleep. These last few days, I kept thinking about one of the angry girls who said to me as I was looking out of the window while the were being arrested/ evicted that it was all my fault and I'd pay for what I'd done. It sounds so stupid but I was convinced some kind of curse inflicted me. I had horrific night sweats, I went through 5 t-shirts, sopping wet. And could barely catch more than 2 hours of sleep at a time. Considering what time we actually go to bed, that ,means I got 3 hours of sleep per night since Friday. The knock to my immune system was massive. With episodes of sleep paralysis to complete insomnia I'm not surprised I was seeing ghosts or apparitions from the dark side.
Source
Luckily, cats cancel them out. Lexi could sense something was wrong with me and instead of sleeping on the other side of the bed with me during the day, she practically slept on top of me. It was the most soothing feeling ever. Not that I needed reminding, but I love Lexi so much. Excuse me for believing that cats are spiritual guardians. They are so much more than just chicken-eating machines covered in floof.🐾🐈💜🐾
