Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Counting my Blessings

I am dragging today after quite the adrenaline rush right before I went to bed. I had just finished watching a show and everyone was already asleep in the house. When someone rang my doorbell and knocked on the door. It was 11:30 at night. We had Gavin's brother Brendan staying with us last week so I thought it must have been him getting in late since he was in Las Vegas yesterday morning. I walked up to the door and had my hand on the lock to unlock it when I saw this scary guy look at me through the side lite window with this great big smile. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could and woke up Gavin. There's this scary guy standing on our porch ringing our doorbell. Should I call 911? I think he told me no, but I was already on the phone. I was so scared I couldn't even remember my house number. The dispatch operator asked me for a description. What a good test of what we remember when we see something for a fraction of a second. I was only able to remember that he had dark black curly hair that went down his neck, a baseball cap on, and probably in his 30s. He stayed there on my porch the whole time I was on the phone but I could only see a little of his jacket since he was directly behind my door. Three police cars arrived moments later and found him in the street in front of my house. He had a little boy with him too that appeared (with no coat on) when the police arrived. I watched the scene from my living room window. How did I forget his black beard?The police were out in the street with him for over an hour and had him in handcuffs while they went through all of his pockets and gave him a breathalyzer test. They eventually gave him a ticket for public intoxication (and told him he was lucky they found him walking and not driving or he would be going to jail), took off the handcuffs, and let him get in a car with his girlfriend (one of the police officers left and returned with her in his car), and followed him out of our street. Still not sure what he wanted or why he was on my porch. (Maybe our gigantic blow up turkey on our lawn made him think we would be a nice family willing to help out someone in need, not a crazy paranoid mom that would immediately call 911) . If I wouldn't have panicked so much I could have thought rationally and used the intercom system to ask him what he needed. After he left with the police escort I went to each of my children's rooms to make sure everyone was still in their beds. I was so relieved and overwhelmed with gratitude to find all of my children sound asleep, safe in their home and beds. I am also very grateful for the police officers that responded so quickly to my call.

12 comments:

Shelby said...

hi heather-
hope you & your family are doing well. i love your blog! thanks for the flight tip- it always helps! hope ya'll have a GREAT thanksgiving!
shelby-

Shelby said...

scary. i had a similiar thing happen 4 years ago & steve was out of town. by the time the police got him, he was in my backyard. he had a gun & cocaine in his truck which was parked in front of my house & their was a warrant out on him. they took him to jail but i still had nightmares that he came back.

Grandma Bethany said...

No wonder you said you were tired when I spoke to you earlier today.
That is so scary and good that you called the police. Sad isn't it that we feel like we need to keep out doors locked even in the day?

Brittany said...

That is so scary! I am so sorry you had to feel that way. I don't think you were paranoid by calling 911. A couple years ago a 19 year old boy slid and hit our mailbox and came up to the door to apologize. Jamie wasn't home, and after I opened the door I had this brief second where I thought, what did I just do? It of course turned out ok, but I thought man I should be more careful!

Vennesa said...

Last week one afternoon I looked out my window to see a guy on my porch holding a kitchen knife. No way was I opening the door, I just told him "Sorry, not interested". turns out he was selling cases of fruit and offering samples. He probably thought I was the neighborhood crazy.

veronica said...

Hi Heather! This is Vennesa's little sister. Just linked over from her blog and wanted to say hello!

Anonymous said...

YOu'll now have to think about what to put on your nightstand. I do not recommend a hello kitty clock or curel lotion. Good job calling 911!!

Steph Kearns said...

That is so scary! And to think it happened just down the street. I told my mom about that and we both now refuse to answer the door when we're home alone. Crazy people out there! Glad you called 911!

Lisa said...

Wow. That is scary. I'm glad nothing more came of it. What happened to the little boy??

Anonymous said...

SCARY!! So glad you called the cops! It is ALWAYS good to ere on the side of caution!

Amy Lou said...

Heather, yikes you only hear about that stuff in the movies! So glad you didn't unlock the door! Good call dialing 911.

kellyclay said...

Heather how scary! you are so not paranoid for calling 911 here is my paranoid 911 call, 2 years ago when Dale was deployed to Germany we were in the middle of an ice storm and I was watching TV and nursing Aidan when I saw the door knob on my front door turn. so I freaked out and immediately called 911 the police arrived quickly checked around my house and then knocked on my door and pointed out that it was my tree that had fallen and hit the door knob in such a way to make it turn.