I don't watch the news. It started as a coping mechanism when I was suffering from post partum after Q was born - I was worried enough about horrible things happening, I didn't have to be reminded of them every day at six and eleven pm. All the news I need I get from my US or People Magazine online. You may scoff, but I am totally up on all the Hollywood gossip and when I close my eyes I see the gorgeous shoes Reese Witherspoon wore to her wedding and not images from a murder scene. It works for me. Oh, I also have google...what else do I need?
I don't watch horror movies. This seems to bother people. Men mostly. I'm really not sure why, but it does. I have seen Scream (my brother bought it for me one year for my birthday after I explicitly told him I refused to watch it...) and I saw The Blair Witch Project (which was really more annoying than anything because the picture kept bouncing around when they ran from the "witch"). I am telling you, those 'Viewer Discretion Advised' warnings are for me. I've been known to change the channel when a scary movie trailer comes on. I recently went to the theater to watch an "adult" movie (no, no, no, not that kind...a non-cartoon, non-3D, non-talking animal movie-that kind...) "Limitless" a movie about a man who takes a pill and becomes enlightened. Sounds safe enough, right? No, it just about crossed the line for me. Something about the guy threatening to skin him from the waist up...ugh...it was so horrible, I can't even repeat it. Suffice to say, I just don't want to.
There are just so many horrifying things in the world, I want to shield myself and my child from as much as possible.
So. It's quite ironic that Q and I have found ourselves in a pickle twice this week where safety was compromised...both times we were blissfully unaware until after the threat was gone, and both times we walked away without a scratch. The angels were watching over us.
They were watching over us when we met up with some friends for a bike ride by the ocean. Sounds marvelous, doesn't it? It was. It was a beautiful spring day. We were at the beach (every day at the beach is a fabulous day!!) and were surrounded by white capped mountains. The boys were getting along so well, as they always do...no matter how much time has lapsed. Us momma's got in some bonding time. All was good. The boys rode on ahead and we met a woman on the path who smiled and said,
Her: "uh...are those your boys up ahead?"
Us: "Yes. Yes, they are." Quite proud of them, really!!
Her: "You might want to call them closer. There was a shooting in the area and they're still looking for the shooter."
Us: "Huh?"
Her: "Do you see the police helicopter in the sky? It's looking for the guy. The shooting wasn't more than 100 feet from here."
Us: "Huh? But we're in White Rock. People don't shoot people in White Rock"
We called the boys to us (which, I might add, they listened very, very well. They came to us right away and didn't ask any questions when we told them we had to leave right away) and found out later that a young couple had been fighting when they man pulled out a gun and started threatening her. When the police showed up, he refused to put the weapon down and they shot him dead. There were like 20 cop cars outside the house, yellow tape everywhere, and a body under a white sheet.
The angels were also watching us when I picked Q up from his dad's house the other day. We were catching up as his dad has the week off, and I haven't seen him as much as I usually do. We saw a huge crowd down the street and Q says, "I think there's another shooting down there, Mommy." Silly me, (or naive me...) I think that they're breaking ground on a new living complex or apartment building and there's a crowd gathered for the ribbon ceremony.
Yeah....no.
A 31 year old man was chasing after a 20 year woman with a machete. I don't even know how to spell that, by the way...I had to google it. She gets away while he runs into a townhouse and hides out. Q's best friend lives a few doors down. The police actually used his house. The sniper came in the front door, while J and his family (four small children between the ages of 9 months and 7) left out the back. Thankfully, the sniper kept the house nice and clean. And even more thankful that the incident was resolved peacefully when the machete guy surrendered to the police. I am so, so glad the angels were watching over J's family. We were a block away, and I had no idea. I was looking for the balloons and ribbon.
But seriously? We live in Canada. We're Canadians. We're known for being polite and nice and holding doors open for people. We are not known for carrying around weapons. Although we're also known for living in Igloos...so I guess there are some misconceptions about us Canadians.
It is really very frightening when things like this hit so close to home.
Of course, Q has a flare for the dramatic and is prone to exaggerations (Why, I have no idea where he gets that from...she said in her best southern belle drawl.) After the shot-gun trip to the beach, Q came home, burst through the front door and said,
"Uncle Steve, I almost got shot today!!!"
And yet, maybe it wasn't so much an exaggeration as it was a fear. Maybe that's how a six year old sees a situation like that. It breaks my heart that he thought his life was in danger. Even more horrible is that he maybe thought I wouldn't be able to protect him
Does anyone have a bullet proof, anti-bacterial human sized bubble? I'll take two.
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