The night before last was gorgeous. The perfect weather for sleeping with the windows open. Cool breezes and just a subtle hint of ocean air blowing in from the Atlantic outlet that runs under the bridge about a mile from my house. Perfect.
Both of my boys fell asleep easily under these perfect conditions. I threw myself out in bed and flipped through the channels. I like to look out my front window from bed on nice nights. There's a train station near the end of my block and so there's a pretty regular stream of people heading to or from at any given hour. Or, steady stream for this neighborhood anyway. It's a pretty quiet town otherwise.
As the contractors moved in during the good economy in the 80's and 90's.. out went several huge colonials and victorians, to be replaced by 10-30 townhouses per lot. It stinks. It was always such a quiet quaint town. If you didn't live here, there was no reason to be here.. not even to pass through. We are on the southern most tip of the island. When you get to the end of the highway, you have to either drive into our town, or cross the bridge.
Now, it's claustrophobic. Too much vehicle traffic on roads that were originally built as horse trails. Too much foot traffic on sidewalks that we used to go barefootin on even if we were running into the corner stores. The traffic on the streets has become such a problem that a few years ago they changes ALL the streets in town to become one way streets. Ours became a "down" street. That's fine... except it's a lot harder to back out of the driveway now, and it also created a lot more traffic down the block as it sort of made us a main thoroughfare to the main roads out of town.
But I digress.... So there I was looking out the window, watching commuters and teenagers hurry under the orange cast of the street lights...
And then, I saw the oddest thing. A cop car driving ever so slowly UP my street without their lights on. The head lights were on, but not the "cherries" up on top. This set off a panic in my heart.
Both of my boys were asleep in their room-- about 6 feet from my door to theirs. My parents were asleep in their room.
I ran downstairs. I turned on the front porch lights, then the living room. Basement, kitchen and backyard. I forced my dogs out of their bed and into the backyard to do a little border patrol. (mind you, my dogs are 2lbs and 6lbs... but they can recognize a stranger when they see/smell them).
After lighting up the place, I tapped on my parent's door and made them aware of what I witnessed.
I then carried both boys into my bed and held them for a while.
-sleep-
It occurred to me the next morning what my brain has morphed into. I have battle scars. I spent so many months of my life worrying about bad guys coming into my home and plotting emergency scenarios that I never realized that it kinda turned me into a crazy person! I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd always rather err on the side of caution, but it didn't occur to me until the morning light that I might have been overreacting to a cop car driving up my street the wrong way.
*Thanks again John. One more dysfunction I can add to my list, compliments of you.
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