The psychiatrist of my younger sister, Joyce, had long advised us that a change of environment will be good for her. The family decided about two or three years ago to sell our house and move to a new one—we were pretty strapped for cash at that time, and the maintenance of a commercial property was a bit too much. But when an interested buyer came, we changed our mind, for the simple reason that we didn’t need the money anymore.

About a week ago, my family decided to finally sell our property. For real this time, and not just for monetary purposes. It was because of Joyce that we came to this decision.

About two weeks ago when my dad was out on a photo coverage, Joyce threw another tantrum. She was angry. Really angry. So angry that she kicked the electric fan to bits and threw a glass on the wall (too bad, I was fond of that glass). It was like flicking a light switch—Marc readied himself for a possible wrestling match, my Mom stood far from my sister’s reach (in her disabled state, it’s impossible for her to get into a scuffle with Joyce who’s way heavier than me), and I automatically ran to the kitchen, gathered up all the knives and other sharp objects, then quickly tossed them all in our room. Luckily, we were able to contact my dad and he came home immediately, but Joyce was already calm at that point.

Dad was able to talk to her after she had a nap and calmed down. She apologized, and said she was just really angry and frustrated.

Since her outburst, Marc and I pretty much had to keep an ear out in case she had another fit. We don’t have a maid, and my dad can only rely on us to keep things under control when he’s out on an assignment (yeah, that was one of the main reasons why I hadn’t been blogging for some time). That task, plus the work deadlines I had to keep up with, certainly made my life less boring.

It was hard living like this (and still is). Joyce is now showing signs of getting better, but I think it was mainly because she now had something to look forward to: moving to a new house where she will actually have neighbors to interact with.

You see, our house is located along Katipunan C-5 Extension, and it really isn’t an ideal place to go out for a breath of fresh air. For one, the air isn’t what you’d call “fresh”—that comes with living on a main road where cars regularly zoom by. If you aren’t very good at crossing the street, there’s a good chance you’d get run over by a car. My dog, Sheero, is used to the cars that she doesn’t mind them anymore whenever I take her on walks. The very few neighbors we have (our property is on a commercial area which is mostly composed of banks, ATM machines, and gas stations) rarely go out of their houses—except for cleaning their parking spaces and driveways every now and then. To see them, you’ll need to cross the wide street and walk about four or five blocks to the nearest sari-sari store.

Living on our street isn’t an ideal place to raise a baby, not to mention encouraging interaction to a schizophrenic sister. (No, I’m not yet pregnant!)

So now we’ve decided it’s time to move. We’re hoping to get a new house in a subdivision where the neighborhood is friendly, safe, and active. A gated one would be most ideal so my sister can go out and walk around without my dad getting a stroke in worry and paranoia. But first, we have to sell our 586sqm property. If you’re interested or know somebody who is, drop me a line.

We already have a few interested buyers. Who knows? There’s a chance we’d be spending Christmas in our new home.

Now, that’s something to look forward to 🙂