The Chili Bowl

Ok, so every year when the Vikings play the Packers, I have my friend come over and cook her famous chili, which is the best I've eaten, so far. I feel that way because it's just spicy enough that you can still enjoy it. The plan was to cook up the chili and let it simmer overnight. Now, I have to use some discretion because if you come over, you need to be about the game and/or the chili. So I invited some folks over that I knew would meet the criteria. More importantly, they had to mesh personally. Most important, they had to be Vikings fans and sing along with our fight song, Skol Vikings. The only exception would be Bill and that's because him being a Packer fan is just one of the rare things we disagree on. That and the use of steroids.
So my friend and I are on the way from the grocery store, coming around the corner I see there is a hole in my bedroom wall.


{I still have to sort through all my stuff to find the cord to link camera to computer, because you really have to see it to believe it. The pix are coming soon.}


My whole body went numb, like when your foot starts to fall asleep, not yet that prickly feeling. I was speechless and that aint easy to do. I was shocked, but not surprised and here's why.
(Back story)
I have a crazy neighbor who has a ridiculous history of just walking into people's apartments for whatever reason. She's done it once since I have lived here. she came frantically knocking on my door once. She came in breathing heavy, with a worried look on her face. She desperately claimed to need help zipping up a coat that she wasn't even wearing. She will go into her garage, which is located directly across from where I lay my head at night( A-Ha!), start her car and rev up the engine. Like she wanted to leave but it was in neutral. She'll then turn the car off and come back inside. It's not like it was winter and she wanted to warm the car up, she just was losing it. Even the other neighbors tell me that she's touched in the head.
(Back to now)
I knew that she was a threat to not only herself, but to the other tenants and this was even more proof. I spoke with eyewitnesses that said they could see her from the other end of driveway. She said she came at it full go and saw that something was broken. She then pulled back into the garage just as fast. I noticed she sure did, but left her bumper in my bedroom. As my friend contacted the lady's next of kin and police, I checked inside. I never felt so vulnerable, as I went through the damage and could hear everything going on outside, like I never left. As I was taking pictures of the outside, the old lady wanted to get back into the car to see if it worked. My fiend and the eyewitness talked her out of it. I used my camera phone to record it. I wanted to document everything I could.
The cops couldn't believe it when they checked it out and took pictures. One of them told me that she clearly has dementia and shouldn't have had keys to a car. She has had the cops called on her before because of a disturbance. Her son came and looked grizzled and ashamed. He barely looked me in the eye or even offered an apology.
After the initial shock and anger of it, I took a step outside of myself and realized that this guy has to deal with his mother who is now a shell of her formal self. He is seriously gonna have to look into assisted living for her and he didn't look like he could afford it. As I am typing this, she still lives in the complex and still puts a rock down to hold the door open while she gets her mail...one day, I decided to kick that rock.
Everyone that came to The Chili Bowl took snapshots of the wreckage and it was the conversation starter, ice breaker and go to moment of the night! For a temporary inconvenience, I got new A/C, windows and carpet out of the deal. Was also able to take care of some bills!