It's both a point of pride and enormous comfort to me that I live an almost entirely drama-free life.

I'm happy with my job, happy with my marriage, happy with my volunteer work, happy with my home (except that ugly kitchen that we're working on!), and feel that I live a meaningful and productive life consistent with my progressive belief system.

I can't explain why my life turned out this way, other than my great fortune of being raised by an extraordinarily level-headed and sensible mother, and my ability to learn from any mistakes that I've made along the way. I also go out of my way to avoid situations that may cause drama, and do my best not to involve myself too deeply in other people's drama.

So, when drama occurs that is not a result of any specific action or decision on my part, it causes me to think about the situation a lot.  To talk with my spouse about the situation a lot. Probably more than is warranted or healthy. My imagination goes into overdrive and I start to think through all of the various outcomes — good and bad — of that situation.

This time the unwanted drama arrived in the form of a mentally unstable neighbor - I'll call him MP. I had no previous awareness of this person other than seeing him from a distance on several occasions since he moved into the neighborhood over a year ago.

On a beautiful Sunday morning about two-and-a-half weeks ago, MP made his presence known. Michael spotted MP driving around the neighborhood and placing letters on every homeowner's door. When Michael went to retrieve the letter from our door, MP got quite excited, telling Michael that he wrote the letter, as if he was very proud of his creation.

Michael then brought the letter upstairs for me to read. The letter wasn't very well-written and jumped between unrelated topics but I was able to get the gist of it — MP was trying to start a "revolt" against our HOA's Board of Directors (of which I am one of five) and was using this letter as his rallying cry.

In the letter MP ranted and raved about all of the "negative" comments he had heard about the Board, about how noone ever wanted to join, about "frequent increases in assessment", and other vague attacks for which he had no basis.

Both Michael and a couple members of the Board attempted to speak with MP, and the general consensus was that he is a very smart, very vindictive individual with a lot of time on his hands.

In response, we're holding a "Community Roundtable" meeting tonight to address any homeowner concerns, but we suspect that MP (and his team of Ivy League-educated lawyers, no doubt) will be the only people who show up. On the other hand, the meeting has the potential to turn very ugly, given MP's apparent mental state and lack of understanding about how HOA's work.

In my 8 years living in this community (most as a volunteer board member) the other homeowners have shown little interest in attending HOA meetings or getting involved in any way. As a result, the same few people serve on the board year after year, giving up our precious free time to uphold the property values and make our community a peaceful and desirable place to live. Thousands of hours have been contributed, and MP responds by launching a baseless kick in the teeth.

I'm 1-1/2 hours away from the meeting, and dreading it like a root canal. What is it about some people that their mission in life is to make others miserable?

F*cking drama-creating jerk.