Getting jacked at the park (well, almost), the weak gazelle, and things my Dad used to tell me.

My daddy always told me to trust my instincts- "if something doesn't seem right, it probably isn't," he used to tell me.  Yesterday, those words came in handy....

So, about 10am I took all of the kiddos to a park near the house so Cash could play and I could feed Max and Leo their bottles.  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary when we got there, although I’m always a little disappointed so find the parking lot empty when we pull in.  I have always been a pretty serious worrier, and since Max and Leo came along, I feel like an injured gazelle when I’m alone with them.  When it was just me and Cash, while I was busy planning escape plans in my head like a freak (you know you do it too), I knew I could just snatch him up and run if I needed to.  Having 3 kids has seriously handicapped these psychotic escape plans.  

Let me take a minute, while I’m already off the subject, to say that I have done this my entire life.  Who knows when it started (or why), but I always run completely absurd scenarios through my mind just so I’m prepared if one of them actually comes to fruition.  For example, when John and I lived in the little cabin in the woods I was prepared to sneak into the dryer in our closet if someone broke in while I was home alone.  I had run the scenario through my head a million times and I was ready- after all, hiding under the bed is like a recipe for a bad horror movie and who cares I had never completed a dry run to see if I could actually fit into the dryer.  I digress.  Anyway, I say that to say this- I try to be mentally prepared for situations like what I’m about to describe, but like I said, being the chick with all the kids has put a kink in how flawlessly I envision myself fleeing from danger.  

Back to the story.  So, we moseyed all the way to the jungle gym farthest from the car- Cash on foot and Max and Leo in their stroller.  Cash was playing at the top, deciding which slide to go down, when I first saw them.  One of my first thoughts was “thank God they’re not black guys.”  I was already thinking about how I was going to tell John about the shady dudes I saw at the park and I was thankful that I didn’t have so sound like one of those scared white girls who is afraid of the “big black guys.”  Hopefully that came out right.  Anyway, I instantly had a bad feeling about them.  By the way- profiling makes me sick.  I am so annoyed when people make assumptions about people because of their age, how they are dressed, the color of their skin, etc., so I didn’t immediately jump up and run away.  But, I’m not stupid, so I kept my eye on them.  As they approached the bridge that would lead them closer to me, I realized that they were watching me as much as I was watching them.  This is when I knew they were up to no good.  I knew they were too close for me to gather my 40 kids and make a run for it (weak gazelle) so I mentally prepared for plan B.   I took my rings off and put them under Max (don’t judge me, I’ve already had them stolen once…), and I took my phone out of the diaper bag.  Now the question was, do I call the police or John?  I called John (again, not wanting to be the irrational profiler), but he didn’t answer.  By this point they were about 100 ft from me so I didn’t have time to look like I was frantically trying to call someone, so I pretended John was on the phone and I waited for his voicemail to pick up so I could tell him where I was (you know, in case I came up missing- duh).  I pretended not to be overly concerned by their presence, but by this point, they were both staring at me from inside of their hooded sweatshirts, with their hands in the front pocket, holding who knows what.  My brain was busy (futilely) steamrolling through escape scenarios.  As they passed me, they walked so close I could have easily touched them.   My heart was now at gallop pace.   I continued to pretend to be on the phone and I began pivoting so my back was never to them.  They stared me down the whole way and continued to look back at me as they walked away.  Right about this time John called back so I told him what was going on. I still felt uneasy because I couldn't see where they had gone.  I got off the phone with John and called Cash over to start heading back to the car.  Max and Leo were crying, Cash started crying, and I couldn’t move fast enough.  Sure enough, they were right past the spot where they had moved out of my sight, waiting.  I made a beeline for the path as far away from them as I could get, pretty much dragging Cash, who was hysterical because I made him leave the playground.  Thankfully, I had kept my phone out, so I called Michelle and told her to be ready to hang up and call the police when I said the word.  I think they thought I was already on the phone with the police (as any sane person should have been- the adrenaline was clearly clouding my logic) because they started to walk away, toward a gazebo on the other side of the park.  They sat there and watched me as I loaded the kids up in the car- by the way, it’s a good thing they weren’t chasing me- it takes me 10 minutes to pile them all in (injured gazelle…).  In the meantime, a car with 2 women, a toddler, and a baby pulled up so I told them what had happened and then I watched the 2 guys walk out of site.  

When I was safely in my car, I knew I had to call the police to see if they would send a car to patrol the area, so I did.  I gave the best description I could, the 911 operator thanked me, and I met John at another park so Cash could play.  About 30 minutes later, just as we were headed into the other park I received a phone call.  It was the 911 dispatcher calling me back to say that the patrol she sent to check out the park saw the guys, arrested them, and it turns out they had just broken out of the juvenile detention center!  Wow.  I am so thankful I called 911 and I am so glad she called me back.  It reaffirmed that I wasn’t overreacting or profiling.  It made me realize just how strong your intuition can be.  I will be going back to the park soon, but probably not unless there are other people there… safety in numbers- another thing my dad always used to tell me…