Monday, April 19, 2010

Never a Dull Moment

This post was written about a week ago...
 
If you've been reading this blog for a while, you've probably noticed that whenever I get myself in a sticky situation, my dog is there. I'm sure there are some people out there who, from reading these posts, think I spend too much time with him. Trust me, I have plenty of friends...but whenever something happens, they're not there, but Zach is :)

So last night around 8, I was getting restless from studying and thought I could use some fresh air. I grabbed Zach's leash and he raced towards the door for to go for a short walk up and down the block. It was getting dark outside, but everything was still visible. The street and sidewalks were empty.

Whenever we get to the end of a block, Zach likes to cross the street and walk back on the other side of the street. Problem is, he darts into the street at his own whim and without warning. So, when he did this, I noticed a car coming. It was a good distance away, so I just ran across the street with Zach before it got near.

I didn't think much of it...until the car stopped, directly across the street from me. I couldn't see the inside of the car, but the person just sat with his headlights on.  I figured the person was waiting for a friend or something, even though the car looked unfamiliar. I kept walking, when suddenly the car honked loudly. I jumped, and walked faster, just in case. My dog started dragging the pace, and the car started creeping along behind me. I pulled out my phone and pretended to be having a conversation, since I figured it made me look slightly less vulnerable. Zach kept pausing to go to the bathroom, and I finally figured not getting kidnapped was more important than Zach peeing for the 18th time, and dragged Zach by the leash as we ran towards the house.

I stopped in front of my house, and the car stopped across the street. I raced inside and locked the door. The car remained sitting outside my house for a minute, and then sped away.

Zach barked, staring out the window for a solid hour afterward.

It freaked me out.

7 comments:

  1. PinkLAM - that's so frightening! It's so unfortunate (and frankly makes me angry) that girls and women have to worry so much about these threats. It just makes me mad that you got scared by some creep while walking your dog in your own neighborhood. Good thinking on your feet though with the phone and getting to your house as quickly as possible.

    Do you think you would have been more vulnerable if you had not been wearing your CIs? It may not have made much of a difference in this situation, maybe it did. What do you think?

    Be safe,

    Rebecca

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  2. Hey Rebecca, it's nice hearing from you again! That's an interesting question.
    I honestly don't think having hearing loss or CI's made me any more vulnerable. The fact that I can hear pretty darn well (especially environmental sounds) with my CI's made me feel a little bit safer, just knowing that I'd hear if someone was walking behind me, or if it got to the point I actually needed to call the police, I'd be able to hear to call them. My CIs weren't visible, so I don't think I was targeted because it was clear that I had a hearing loss. So, if my CIs made any difference, it was in a positive way!

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  3. This freaked out too! What a weirdo. I'm glad your dog was with you and I think you did the right thing pulling your phone out.

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  4. Scary stuff!!I'm glad it all turned out well.

    To answer your question, yes it was my son Kemper on the news yesterday. He was on the news in January and I guess they made another story out of our interview. Crazy thing is I haven't even seen it yet!! Hope it was a good one :)
    P.S. I really enjoy reading your blog and I'm looking forward to seeing the Eagle Scout website. Have you mentioned it to Leslie? she might be able to get some more teens involved.

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  5. Kim- Thanks. A few people have told me I shouldn't have gone straight home ("now he knows where you live")...but it's hard to think clearly when you're scared!

    Lone Star- He definitely graced the camera :) Thanks for the compliment. I had emailed Linda Daniel about it, and she'd said she would help spread the word. I keep forgetting to mention it to Leslie (which is funny, since it feels like I'm over there every week), but that's a good idea. Hopefully the site will be up soon, it's running a bit behind schedule...

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  6. great blog. really helpful, and fun to read. thanks for stopping by my blog.

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  7. I think you did the right thing by going straight home. This sounds more like an opportunistic thing rather than someone who's likely to try to stalk you. And the fact that you made it immediately clear that you were aware of the threat and you quickly got yourself to a safe place means that you have a knack for self-defense and you're a poor target, and the person will look elsewhere. (For that reason, you might want to tell your neighbors, especially those with kids, what happened so they can be vigilant.) I took a women's self-defense course in college and it was fantastic. A lot of self-defense is preventive in nature -- walk assertively, stay aware of your environment, carry a key or some other object in your hand that could be a makeshift weapon (but don't carry any other kind of weapon -- it can be used against you), etc. -- make yourself a poor target, and that greatly reduces your chances of having to fend off an attack.

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