At the top of my lungs

Two nights ago it was 'chucking down rain' to use a British term that I love. The weather here...well...it sucks. It has mainly been rainy and cold for just about a FULL YEAR. I am not hopeful that it will change to the 'fabulous summers' that I'm told happen here. It just doesn't seem possible that the rain and cold will ever go away; its never ending. I think the 'weather dial' up in the atmosphere is stuck somehow and some weatherperson needs to go FIX it and NOW.

So, the weather that night had gotten on my very last nerve and I decided that a good scream might help. So, I announced to my family that I was going to "scream into this here pillow for a bit"...and I did. My kids first looked wide-eyed and then they smiled but still weren't certain if mommy 'was right in the head' (she wasn't). I settled down for a bit, but then the rain and wind picked up again....so I went in for another scream. The kids were more comfortable with this one. I had one final bout where I needed to let it out and this time I decided I wanted to hear what the real scream sounded like. I warned the family that this was not a test, it was the real thing. They prepared themselves with their fingers 'half in their ears'. My husband said worriedly that our 'nosey neighbors' may in fact feel as though they need to investigate...and I said, well let them. So, I belted it out once again. It was a good scarey kind of scream one might expect in a horror flick. It felt good and it did release something in me. I might need to do it again tonight to let out the frustrations I'm feeling about my previous post. Maybe it'll be a nightly ritual. This leads me to the story about another scream I've let out in my life....

We were living in Raleigh, NC circa 2004. I had just returned from a road trip and was unloading our luggage. We had street parking, so it was a haul and I left the door open to make it speedier. All of our stuff was in, I shut the door and we went on our merry way as a family. We happened to be in the back room watching the 'tube' when my husband said he needed to make a phone call to our neighbors who were having us over for dinner. I hear him on the phone talking quite bruskly with our "friends"...such words as HEY MAN, WATCH OUT MAN. My thoughts were "how rude" and I decided to go see what all of the fuss on the phone was. As I turned the corner I see my husband "interacting" with a black man in our kitchen. Well, my first reaction was NOT IMPRESSIVE. I let out the biggest girliest scream you can imagine. I recommend NOT doing this if you are ever in this situation. This aggitated the dude and he took us all back into our back room where our kids were...gulp. He asked both of us to go get our wallets and our jewelry. I reasoned with him to let us go one at a time so our children would not be frightened (which oh by the way they were anyway). So, he takes me first and says where is your jewelry. My first (and again notso-smart) reaction was to grab the engagement ring on my finger and say "please don't take my engagement ring". Well I'll be darn tootin' if that burglar man was kind enough to let me keep it but he wanted to see the rest of my jewels. I followed his instructions and gave him the box with my "jewels". He threw the box down and said "where are your diamonds". This is where I wish I could have pressed pause so that I could have a moment to think of my crafty response because what I said is, "I don't have any, we don't have that kind of money"...but what I wished I had said was..."YEAH HUSBAND, where are my diamonds?" (just kiddin' puddin'). Anyway, he didn't like what I had to offer so he put me back with the kids and led my husband out to his wallet. Luckily my husband had just gone to the cash machine so the $200 made Mr. Burglar happy enough to decide to leave us alone. The whole time he was moving us around he had his hand covered by his jacket. I sincerely do not believe he was packing the heat, but when there are children involved, you don't want to take that risk. He finally made his way out and announced that "he would come back and kill all of us" if we called the police. Guess what, we called the police. I don't want to go on and on about this because it is long enough, but good news, he was apprehended a few weeks later and he got into some trouble. One of the things he was charged with was kidnapping. I found that to be interesting. Because he moved us from room to room against our will, it is considered kidnapping.

My reaction to the whole thing once the dust had settled was that of Empathy which is sooo weird and confusing to me. My take on the "story" was that we were living near the 'hood (in an historic neighborhood) which was a risk WE had taken, the man was down on his luck, he saw our door open and was planning to 'dip in and dip out'....unfortunately I shut the door and he was stuck inside (our door beeped when opened and shut). I have often referred to him at the Benevolent Burglar since he let us both keep our wedding 'things'...my ring and my husband's watch I gave him. I chalked it up to a man born into the wrong family and so he was destined to be right where he was. My husband on the other hand, still feels to this day that he'd like to 'kick the crap out of him' (sorry mom) if he EVER had to see the man again...I guess "proud papa bear" is protecting his cubs. Anyway, my most recent scream scenario, while not as dramatic, is my preferred way to scream...you should try it sometime!