I Can't Make You Love Me, But I CAN Bend You to My Will

I can't make you love me if you don't
You can't make your heart feel something it wont...
Bonnie Raitt

My mother has the worst neighbors. Okay, maybe "worst" is a slight exaggeration. Maybe a more accurate description would be to say she has really horrible, unfriendly, gossipmongering neighbors. Oh yeah, and then there is crazy trashbags-on-the-fence lady whose saga is getting more intense by the day. She can take up a whole post on her own (and I'm sure she will when I have the chance to write it all down).

My mom lives at the end of a dead-end road in a very small, rural lake area. There are only three people on her road and one of them lives right next to her (crazy trash bag lady) and the other lives down at the corner.

For months I have been driving past the Corner Lady's house and frequently she will be outside sitting on her lawn furniture just hanging out. I always wave and smile and she just stares at me, never waving back.

A couple of weeks ago she and another neighbor were walking down the road with about five tiny dogs which were all running amok around the wheels of my car. Crazy Drunk Neighbor picked up two of the dogs and managed to shoo all but one out from around my vehicle. I rolled forward at a 1/2 a mile an hour creep and as I pass by Corner Lady starts squawking, "Go SLOW now, go SLOW..."

I wanted to say, "Lady, if I were going any slower, I'd be traveling backward through time." Instead I just smiled and waved through the window and kept on going. She sniffed dismissively and turned away, walking down the driveway.

Lately I have been driving down there almost daily, taking Mom groceries and doing errands for her. The other day Corner Lady was sitting outside with a couple I didn't recognize. I drove past her place really slowly and she stared at me the whole way past. I smiled and waved vigorously like I was trying to win first place in a Miss Congeniality contest. In response she gave me the usual cold stare.

It really aggravated me. It aggravates me all the time, really, but for some reason that day it REALLY aggravated me. Maybe having to drive past all those crazy trashbags flapping in the breeze next to my mom's house made me insane. Maybe it was the summer heat and me not drinking as much water as I should.

I slowed down even more and waved again in case she had looked sideways as I was rolling past. Nope, she was looking right at me. More waving, more grinning like a pageant contestant.

There was the corner and I rolled slowly through it and turned, still driving past her house. I waved again and smiled. Still no response. I pressed on the brakes and stopped the car and just stared at her for a second. And then I waved again.

And I kept waving. I sat there for what seemed like an eternity just waving to her. She sat there for as long just staring at me waving to her. The hair on the back of my neck started to prickle. I decided I didn't care how long I had to sit there. I wasn't leaving until she waved at me.

Finally, with a pained expression on her face she lifted her arm and gave a half-wave similar to how you shoo off a particularly persistent fly. I grinned and stepped on the gas. Off we went, me and my small, petty victory. It was a start anyway.

I used to dread driving by her house all the time, but now I must admit I'm really looking forward to it!