Living with Mummy Mirabel: The Neighborhood’s Unwanted Expert

There is this lady in my hood that everybody knows as Mummy Mirabel. Like she's the know it all type. If you are talking about any topic—school, cooking, even things she has no experience in—she jumps in as if she is an expert. Haha its kind of funny at times but usually it's just a pain.

She has this loud voice, and when she starts talking, you can’t ignore her, no matter how much you try. She’ll tell you how to raise your kids, how to keep your home, and even what food is best to cook on certain days. It’s like no one else has knowledge except her.

I mean, I could tolerate the fact that she is chatty all of the time, but the thing is, she just does not listen to anyone. She always like shut down whoever is trying to speak or share their opinion, like "oh no you don't understand let me explain" and that gets old because no one likes to listen to someone who wants to hear the sound of their own voice.

Sometimes, I feel like asking her, “Mummy Mirabel, don’t you get tired of talking? But, of course, I just keep it to myself.

Then, there’s the matter of her children. They behave exactly like her. They just go running around the neighborhood yelling and pushing other kids and fighting constantly. They have no respect especially for their elders. When adults correct them, they don’t even care. Instead, they just walk away, laughing. It’s hard to blame them because they see their mother doing the same thing—never listening, always interrupting.

Mummy Mirabel's children are always so disrespectful to everyone, and I remember one time a lady across the street asked her to tell her children to stop their rudeness, and she simply laughed and said, "Oh well, they are just kids they will learn when they get older" well the thing is they aren't learning anything good from her.

One particular incident still bothers me. There was this little party in the hood, and everybody was invited. It was supposed to be a peaceful, fun time. But when Mummy Mirabel arrived with her kids, things changed. And she began right away spreading the word to everyone about how the food could have been prepared better and the drinks needed to be much much colder.

That was so shameful because the host had done so much work to make everything so neat. Then her kids came and started running around and touching stuff, and picking things up without permission, and they spilled drinks all over the place. The worst part was, when another woman tried to stop one of her kids from making a mess, Mummy Mirabel shouted, “Leave my children alone! They are just enjoying themselves.”

So at that time I actually felt sorry for the host and for all the people who just wanted to have a nice, innocent good time. Her behavior and her children’s behavior took away the peace of the event. I do remember that I left that party very mad and upset.

But I still do respect her because she is my neighbor, and I've got to live with her. I just avoid long conversations with her, and I try not to let her words affect me too much. However, I do have to question sometimes whether or not she understands the affect her actions have on others.

All images are mine