At the age of four I only had one pet which was our family’s cat.  I always wanted a pet of my own like a hamster, kitten, maybe even a pony.  Every time I asked my parents they always said no.  

One day before Mother’s Day we were planting flowers as a present to my grandmom and my neighbor walks across the street to us.  He and his wife were having a birthday party for his son all day and the theme was under the sea. When he came over he was holding a little round bowl and handed it to me.  As I look down at it I finally realize what it was- a fish. I was so excited I started jumping up and down and almost threw my newest prized possession onto the concrete. I thanked him so much and skipped away with my new buddy Mai Tai (yes that is also the name of a fruity alcoholic drink, no I didn’t get to name my own fish because he sadly came with a name).

After about four months my little fishy friend is long dead, but I was still really happy my neighbor came and gave me a fish.

About eight years later it is 10:30 at night and I’m laying in bed trying to go to sleep.  Suddenly I hear a really loud knocking at my door. My dad goes to answer the door and it’s my neighbor.  I sneak out of my room and peak around the corner to hear what’s happening.  

My neighbor and his roommate (who were both evidently drunk), got into an argument over the rent that the roommate didn’t pay.  They went outside and things started to get physical. My neighbor then went inside his house, got a large kitchen knife, came outside again and slashed all four of the roommate’s tires on his car.  While my neighbor was slashing, his roommate got angry (rightfully so) and went inside and locked him out of his own house.

The neighbor didn’t have his cellphone on him, so he came across the street and stuck the knife in our mailbox so he could continue to knock on the door and ask us to call the police for him.

I also learned later on that when I was younger after he and his wife got divorced and he lost all custody of his son,  he started selling drugs out of his bedroom window in his house.

Through this event I learned that your perception of someone isn’t always what they actually are.  Sometimes you can think of someone one way your whole life, but instead they are someone totally different.  They make you realize that even though someone may give you a fish, they may also give someone four flat tires.