Friday, June 28, 2013

A Frightening Moment...

Since I’ve been sober I’ve rarely been overcome by raw, gut-wrenching, fear.

But I was on Tuesday after I received a frantic call from one of my daughters. She said that while talking with my wife the call suddenly dropped after my wife said a man was trying to get into the passenger side of her car.

The incident happened after my wife pulled into the lot of a fast food restaurant to talk with my daughter without the distraction of driving.

While she talked, a young thug came to the passenger side and pulled the door handle. When he realized it was locked, he started shouting and beating on the glass with his fist,

Fortunately he was interrupted by the manager of the fast food restaurant who happened to step outside to empty trash. The manager quickly started toward the car, at the same time dialing 911. At that point the thug ran off, but was apprehended a few moments later by police.

And several minutes after that I was able to speak with my wife and learn she was safe and the police were present.

Even though she wasn’t physically injured I was concerned because my wife had been nearly murdered by a stranger when she was nine – trauma that left physical and emotional scars that she carries to this day. This incident had to bring flashbacks.

When I saw her 15 minutes later she was still shaky. But by evening she’d determined that this incident was not going to take up a lot of her head space.  That this thug wasn’t going to control her life.

What did I learn from this?  For one thing, how much I love my wife.  Also, how vulnerable I can be when my loved ones are threatened.  And, how blessed we are that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Thank God.