Thump, Thump, Thump

Yep, that's the sound the basketball makes when it bounces on our driveway.   And if you add in the kids' voices it sounds like this...((THUMP))  SHOOT IT!!!!  ((THUMP))  ME ME!!!  ((THUMP))  OVER HERE!!  ((THUMP THUMP))  ME ME!!!!

We live on a street that dead ends at a cul-de-sac and there's only one other street off of our street that ends in another cul-de-sac.  We have kids of all ages up & down the two streets.  A couple years ago, a family on one end of the street asked us if we wanted the basketball hoop they had because they never used it anymore.  And yes, we ARE the people you SHOULD ask if you want to get rid of ANYTHING, thank you very much!  We thrive off of hand-me-downs!  Joel brought it home, built a new backboard and we were good to go.

Jackie loves playing basketball.  Anytime we have friends over, the men-folk end up outside playing basketball in the driveway...sometimes WITH the kids, sometimes AS kids.  And about two weeks ago, our  across-the-street-neighbor (college) came over to ask if he & his cousin (7th grade), who has been living with him, could play basketball in our driveway.  It was about 7pm and our kids were already bathed and getting ready for bed as it was a school night.  Absolutely!   They played till dark.  The next day, the younger neighbor, came over to play with my kids after school.  He lowered the net so it would be easier for them & was very patient with the younger children and my kids had a blast.

A couple days later, I was out of town, Joel was out with the kids getting dinner & the boys across the street came over to play ball--about 5pm in the evening.  As the story goes, apparently my next-door-neighbor, on the side of the house closest to the driveway, came out and asked the boys to stop playing because the bouncing was too loud while they were watching TV.  Being that the boys didn't want to cause a stir & neither Joel or I were home, they just agreed and left.

Fast forward about a week--I'm home.  There are kids from up & down the block coming and going, older & younger--all playing basketball.  No one has been here later than 8pm.  No one has been obnoxious or disorderly.  Everyone HAS been active & having a good time.  Then the phone rings.  It was about 7:30pm on an April evening, 75 degrees outside and still light.  "Jenny, this is XXX.  Is Joel home?"  It was *the* neighbor.  I told her he was busy but I'd go tell him she needed to talk to him.  She said, "Yes, we NEED to talk as soon as possible."

After a tall, cold drink, Joey made the call next door.  Apparently, the neighbor said, "Joel, we NEED to do something about this basketball noise!"

I didn't hear the whole conversation, tho I was able to watch Joel's face while he was talking.  From what I understand, the week before, when the boys were playing in the driveway without us being home, she actually made a trip to the POLICE STATION to see if there was a noise ordinance!  They told her--OBVIOUSLY--there's nothing she can do about kids playing basketball on private property.  Joel was nice enough not to laugh out loud when she told him about that--but he did giggle to himself & cover the phone.  When she asked Joel if he could move the goal to the backyard, he politely (oh, so much more politely than I would have...) that they cannot play basketball on the grass but if she wanted to pay to put a court back there, he'd be happy to move it!  After she suggested that we give the basketball net to the boys across the street, he kindly replied that it was here for OUR kids to play with it and he would not be punishing them just because she didn't like the sound of the ball hitting the driveway.  Her complaints of having all the kids from the neighborhood in our driveway led him to agree that while it could be a lot of kids at one time, it's better that they're here playing basketball than walking up and down the street smoking & drinking!   Basically, the conversation ended with him saying, "Everyone has different pet peeves.  This is obviously yours, but there's nothing we can do about it.  Sorry."

When another neighbor told us that about 30 years ago, when her son was 8, this same neighbor forbade him from riding his hot wheel up & down the street in front of her house because of the *clicking* noise it made and she didn't like it!

Let's just say that as I write this, we have 4 kids playing basketball in our driveway.  And in about a week, we're gonna start a 15 yr old+ basketball tournament at 9pm each night.  Just because we can...