How (and why) We Opened Our Door to a Stranger
I love watching ghost shows: stuff like Ghost Adventures, Ghost Hunters and My Ghost Story can really get my adrenaline pumping.
Thing is, I just get myself too involved in the storyline, sometimes the really scary scenarios can carry over in my real life, too.
Like, when there is someone knocking on the front door...in the middle of the night...then "OMG, the zombies are here...DON'T ANSWER IT!!!"
Thankfully, it's at this point when one or ALL of my kids are kind enough to remind me "Really mom, you think zombies are gonna knock?!?"
Then about 1:30 a.m. this morning....
[knock-knock-knock]
....judging by the way my youngest girl dove under the cocktail table...and then my middle girl hollering at her to "STAY DOWN!!!"...the axe murderer, pretending to be an upstanding citizen in distress, seemed MUCH more reasonable.
My oldest daughter hollered for her dad (because, she's REAL smart like that!) and I followed along (a good zombie-length behind) when my husband opened the front door to find a woman standing on our porch.
Later, he admitted that it was the two young children staring up at him that "got him".
Long story, short: the woman had had an argument with her grown daughter, who lived down the street, but admitted that she had been drinking and wasn't comfortable driving home (she and the kids lived about 30 minutes away), so she asked if she could call her boyfriend (the two little ones' dad) to pick them up.
Even longer story, shorter: my mama bear kicked in, I offered the little ones something to eat, then the 3 year-old settled into the couch to watch Sponge Bob, while her 5 year-old brother kept an eye on things (like a good little man) and their mom went outside to smoke a cigarette in an attempt to calm her nerves.
Here's the killer part: the woman kept saying stuff like "It's sooooo cozy and warm in here!" and "OMG, I love the way your house smells!" and "Your house looked like a safe place!" and the kids were just too calm and relaxed about the whole situation, being in a houseful of strangers, which made me think perhaps this sort of stuff has happened to them before, maybe even more than once.
The 5 year-old grew restless, so I offered him a tour of the house (which took less than a minute or two) and then turned the light on so he could see the backyard.
"Wow, you have a pool!!!"
I nodded my head and smiled, then his eyes lit up.
"May...may...uhhhh...maybe we could come back and visit in the summer?!?"
Their dad was able to find his way to our house, the woman thanked us (over and over again) for our kindness and the kids said something about their loving it here!"and "wishing they could stay a little longer" and then my heart exploded.
The end.
P.S. Aaaaaaand...my 14 year-old son slept through it all...go figure.
I'm NaBloPoMo-ing it, feel free to check out what I've NaBloPoMo-ed, so far (PHEW!) and let me know how I'm doing (I mean, 30 posts, in 30 days, really?!?) when you have time, of course!