I Held My Temper~Progress!

Slowly pulling into my town home complex, I carefully watched for all the little kids playing out front. During the summer they seem to pop out suddenly from behind a parked car with laser swords, baseball bats and gloves, bikes or squirt guns...chasing each other.

As I rounded the corner there was a silver car parked directly in front of my driveway on the wrong side of the rode. The heavy set lady, with her severe blonde bob haircut and floral dress had stopped at the mailbox. I've seen her quite frequently, but she usually is parked in front of the mailbox. She NEVER cracks a smile, just seems to glare at me. I know I should at least make an attempt to say, "Hi," or wave, but the dirty looks she gives me makes me want to smack her (I kid, I kid!) It does make me a little angry, "What's her problem?"

Now, I patiently pull my car to the far right waiting to make a left into my driveway once she moves. She turns her head towards me, squints her eyes, stares at me (I know that she knows I'm waiting for her to move), and continues to stay at the mailbox shuffling through her mail.

I'm so tempted to honk and say something...but I patiently wait. Finally she SLOWLY walks over to her car...looks directly at me and scouls. Nothing...not a "Sorry," not a wave signaling, "Oops, I'm moving...NOTHING but a crusty look! I'm now ready to roll down my window, but I don't (YES, progress with my temper!) Maybe I should say, progress with my "outward" temper, but inside I was seething. It's a hard thing for someone like me, a.k.a. "The Mouth" to keep it shut.

Now she finally gets into her car, wait...wait...wait, yep she proceeds to sit there sifting through her mail. Here's my self conversation, "Now it's on! No, control yourself...don't let her get you worked up and start a huge yelling match...okay Lisa be the bigger person."

I pull up and slightly turn the front of my car towards my driveway, causing her to look up again. I just point at my driveway...not smiling, but not yelling at her either (PROGRESS). She gives me another disgusted look and points forward, as if to say, "Don't you dare try and squeeze your car in front of me because I'm going straight!" Finally she moves!

Wow...that was a HUGE accomplishment for me! I'm proud of myself...BUT my "normal" confrontational temper still has me a little bottled up. I had so many things ready to come gushing out..."the mouth" usually has a mind of it's own and after I'm done giving someone a thrashing I think, "Oh no...that was REALLY mean, I took it too far again!" So I can truly say P R O G R E S S...YAY!

Sad and Scary Day (Part 2 of 2)

I started trying to exercise, alternating between going to the gym and running with my dog, while my son skateboarded with us. We arrived home still sad from the days events, changed and decided to run/skateboard with Allie (our dog). I took off first while Elijah looked for his Ipod and would catch up with me.

I was halfway down the block, running, Ipod blaring...when I noticed an older man, in a silver Honda, stepping on his brakes, leaning his head completely out of the car looking at something behind me. My heart started racing, I quickly looked behind me, wondering what had caught his attention. To my horror, it was my son on his skateboard. The man was unaware that he was with me, Elijah was trying to catch up to me. My son also noticed the man and the weird look on his face. The man turned the corner a few minutes before we rounded it. He was still looking at us and pulled into a driveway that we would be running directly past. The driveway was blocked by thick green bushes, hiding him from our view as we approached it. I looked behind me to talk to Elijah and noticed another man in an old beat up, white, tan, burgundy and rusty Chevy van, parked across the street, also looking at us, he started his van as we approached the driveway. I tried to remain calm, hoping that it was just my imagination, but wanting to be cautious. I stopped and told Elijah, "When we're almost there I'll sprint and you ride your skateboard really fast past the driveway." We went quickly past and did not see the man. Relief came over me, feeling a little stupid for being so paranoid.

All of a sudden the silver Honda pulled out of the driveway...slowing down, looking again...he swerved as if trying to make an illegal u-turn, (we were running on the sidewalk, against traffic) and if he was successful, he would be directly facing us, we would be trapped. Traffic suddenly picked up blocking his attempt, he almost hit a pole in the middle of the street and had to jerk his steering wheel, driving past us.

We were at a spot where there were no houses or people. I told Elijah, "We need to get to the top of the hill before he can turn around again." My son was scared, I was exhausted from running so fast, but I had been attacked when I was younger and was now feeling very vulnerable and scared for our safety. We crossed the street and were close to the park that we run through...the man came from nowhere, made a u-turn and was now directly facing us waiting for us to reach him. I started pointing at him to let him know that I see him and know what he is doing. I told my son to get on his cell phone (we were never able to get his license number because the sun was directly in our eyes.) I started sprinting again and tried to look tough and confrontational, my heart pounding so hard and quick, I felt sure my son could hear it, as we approached his waiting car. We looked directly at him...he quickly put dark glasses on and tried to hide his face leaning down lower in his car. We made it to the park (now also deserted for some reason, very unusual for that time of day). We both were so scared and just kept running, looking behind us, sprinting, and looking, until we headed out of the park. We were approaching a light (where the park exited)...the Chevy van that had been parked, slowly passed (he had circled the block), looking around as he drove. We were hidden from his view, but could see him. Once he passed...I ran, and ran, and ran...we finally made it home safely. Both of us scared to death, realizing that it wasn't our imagination and we could have been in real danger, the men appeared to be working as a team.

When I got home, my husband was there, we got in the car and drove around...wanting to get a license plate or something to report to the police . Unfortunately, there was no sign of the men. I have not been that scared in years...my son said he was afraid that he would have nightmares about it.

I received a little taste of how an attack/kidnap could easily happen. The scary thing is, my son (13 years old) had been going to play basketball alone in the park for the past week and a half. You never know how long they could have been watching him and luckily, I just happened to be with him on the day that they might have decided to make their move.

We live in a nice neighborhood, the homes and park we run through is in a million dollar neighborhood. It can happen to anyone, anywhere and at anytime. Please be aware of your surroundings...you never know who is watching!