When Theo is Gone: The Intruder

Otherwise known as the first time I have ever called 911.

It was a summer night in September. Tera was about 6 weeks old. Tera did this awful thing when she was 0-12 weeks old. She cried her little head off from 5 pm to 10 or 11 pm every.single.night. Without fail.

Theo got one day off from work after Tera was born. So by 6 weeks I was flying solo, even overnight.

On this particular night Tera had finally calmed down and I was about to turn in for the night. I was so grateful that she had stopped crying and was holding her in the back bedroom as she had finally, blissfully fallen back asleep. I remember trying to get the courage up to lay her down in her bassinet when the dog started barking.

At first I was angry. HE’S GONNA WAKE UP THE BABY!

STUPID DOG.

He kept barking. I laid Tera down in her bassinet (still sleeping, thank you Jesus!) and went out to smack the dog on the nose. He was crated and put down for the night, so there was no good reason for him to be barking.

Then I saw the light. In my backyard. Flashing back and forth. A flashlight. In my backyard.

Someone in my backyard.

First thing I did?

Panic. (Duh!)

I didn’t know if I should let the dog out, or if I should keep him in, so I did nothing. I stood there, watching this flashlight sweep across my yard.

Then I remember my baby. I ran back to the bedroom, grabbed our gun and called Theo. What do I do???

He gently reminded me that my best bet would probably be to call 911.

By that point, I was envisioning having to shoot someone in my own backyard. I was pretty sure that we were in grave danger and I was VERY upset about having to hang up the phone on Theo. I was pretty sure I would never hear his sweet voice again. (dramatic, much?).

So I hung up with Theo and dialed 911. I calmly explained what was happening and the dispatch calmly said that someone was on their way. Then she hung up. Okkkk, then…

I was torn on whether or not I should turn off all the lights, or turn on all the lights. I also didn’t know which room of my house I should go into. Should I hide? Should I be by the front door or the back door? Should I take my gun outside and wave it around? Meanwhile, I’m holding my baby…who had of course woken up with all the action going on.

I ended up standing in the living room with the lights out. The dog had stopped barking, but I could still occasionally see the flashlight, which was weird to me.

It seemed like 20 minutes before a cop arrived. He immediately went out back and flashed HIS flashlight around, which made the dog extra excited. I continued to stand inside, not sure what my best plan was.

The cop finally came around to the front door, knocked and told me it was nothing. He couldn’t see anyone, so it was probably just a false alarm. He talked into his walkie, calling off backup. Ok, then. Thanks for making me feel safe, law enforcement officer. He assured me that he would check just one more time.

This time he heads out back with his mega light flashlight, and then I hear voices.

My heart was pounding in my chest. I was just waiting for a shoot-out or something to go down. I was holding Tera with all my might and was thinking that this was probably going to do down in all the newspapers.

But nothing happens, and then cop dude comes around to the front door again…

I wasn’t sure if I should open the door, honestly. I thought maybe the bad guy had got the cop and then dressed in his uniform and then was coming to the door to come inside to murder me and my baby (active imagination, much?).

I cracked the door open, and the cop explained that he HAD in fact found someone in the back yard. Up on top of the telephone pole.

???????????????????????

Apparently, it was my neighbor. And he was up on top of the telephone pole because he was trying to fix the cable cord. At 11 at night. With a flashlight, that happened to sweep across my yard and into my house every five minutes.

Yeah.

Cop dude told him that 11 at night was really not the best time to be fixing his cable cord and that he should climb down and wait until morning to finish the job. He assured me that I was safe and told me my baby was cute.

I swear….my heart rate didn’t calm down for a week!