I will just get right to why I might be exhausted. Saturday morning I went to the gym. I had Dylan and Lindsey with me. My goal for the day was to make a diaper cake for my hairdresser's baby shower. (The dad is a tattoo artist and my hairdresser is tatted up, so we made a skull and crossbones cake....not babyish and typical and cutesy.) So after the gym, I went to Walmart to get the diapers and some other things for the cake. They didn't have the ribbon I needed, so I decided to drive to the fabric store on Barrett Parkway. I was driving down the road and I heard a huge noise; something had hit the side of my car. It was so loud, can't even describe how loud it was. The next little entrance into the shopping center that the object was thrown from, I pulled in and drove back toward where I was when whatever struck me struck me. I figured it was an accident, or that maybe someone could tell me what happened, plus, I needed to make sure that my car was okay. That's when I saw that my car was hit on purpose. There was a guy throwing things at cars from the parking lot, and he had a gun in his left hand. What I saw, I don't really know how to describe..... it looked like a giant spool of thread, but it was bright copper. It was maybe the size of a football. I freaked, obviously, and I pulled my car left and drove away from him and toward the back of the shopping center. I called 911 and rolled my window down and yelled at some people that were coming out of the store to stay where they were. 911 asked me where I was, and wanted me to keep them informed as to what he was doing until they got there. I parked my car right by the store and took the kids inside. The people that worked at the store and some sweet customers watched the kids while I stayed by the glass and talked to 911. This crazy guy was getting in and out of his creepy kidnapper, white van, grabbing things and throwing them at random cars. He would pace back and forth a bit, throw more stuff, and then pace and talk to himself. The thing that I worried about most is that he knew we were watching him. I am not going to lie, I was scared and I was thinking about the crazy Batman theater killing spree. I was afraid he was going to come at us and start shooting. It felt like forever until the police came, but once they did, I got off the phone with 911 and they started handling it. There were 4 cop cars surrounding him and trying to calm him down. He was screaming "You're gonna have to kill me first!" One cop came over and said that he was not right in the head as of the moment (Oh, really, Sherlock?), and that hopefully it wouldn't be long before they got him into cuffs. He said we needed to stay to make statements and that my car needed to be written up. Like 30 minutes later, they got him into cuffs and into the back of the car; he resisted and screamed.
We all told the cops what we had seen. There were people who had been hit after me who eventually pulled in and told the cops about what they saw. They wrote up a report for my car and said that he would be criminally prosecuted and undergo a psychological evaluation.
I had stayed calm until I looked at my car and realized what had happened. Had he thrown the thing a little higher, it could have hit Dylan in the head and killed him. My car will probably need a new door. There were very sweet people there with me, one lady who hugged me once the shock of the situation wore off. I started crying and thinking about my kids and let the pressure go, and she hugged me and told me how lucky we were and that it would be okay. I wish I knew who she was. I wish I knew who all of the people were in the store. They were awesome.
On one hand, I feel blessed and protected by God. On the other, I wonder why so many random and crazy things seem to happen to me. It has always been that way and it isn't just me who has noticed it. A couple of months ago I drove through a tornado, and I just have always generally felt like a magnet for weirdos. Like when I went to Georgia State, I could be sitting with a group of people and I was the ONLY one getting messed with by a crazy, homeless person. I sit there, not doing anything different than anyone else. I am feeling some anxiety, honestly. When I got home and took a shower, it hit me how freaked out I was.
Luckily, the kids were inside and away from the situation, but I know that it still scared the crap out of them. Dylan is fine; he has talked about it a lot, but mainly about the police men. Lindsey had a nightmare last night and had to sleep on my floor. Lindsey is already a worry-wart and paranoid, so this didn't help.
So, anyway, that was my weekend. The baby shower was fun and I spent the night with Kerri and Jenny and we watched church in our pajamas on the couch. (Kerri volunteered, so it was me and Jenny being lazy at home.) I was lazy all day yesterday and I am tired today. I am going to the gym later, but UGH.
Thank you to anyone who prays for me. God protects me and my kids more than I even know. This weekend we were lucky. It could have been a very bad situation. I do however, feel like I am supposed to be a reporter, like I went to school to be. If I am going to witness random things, I may as well be writing about them for a living. It is a very different feeling though when your children are in the situation.....I was shaking so badly.
Here is a picture of the cake:
 |
| In the end, it got finished! Crazy day.... |
No comments:
Post a Comment