but there is something that absolutely TERRIFIES me. my parents taught my brothers and i the appropriate 'don't talk to strangers', 'check the halloween candy', etc., and that we have to live our lives, but i am 37 years old and i still don't know what to do with feelings that i have when people are stolen from everything.
in first grade i remember, waiting for the bus across the street from our house, when an older man drove by and waved at me. this was the first time i ever experienced the pit-in-the-stomach that something just didn't feel 'right.' fortunately, the bus immediately came.
later, while vacationing with our uncle, a man looking at my brother said 'let's steal the kid' to his friend. i picked him up and RAN SO FAST to the rest of the group. i looked out the back window of the car allthewayhome.
maybe i fear too much. maybe i can be dramatic. but maybe some people are beyond dangerous assholes because this keeps happening. adam walsh. melissa benoit. elizabeth smart. natalie holloway. madeline mccann. jonbenet. even the most recent, vanessa marcotte.
whether taken from the comfort of their own bed or jogging in a 1pm afternoon, picketed fence neighborhood, my heart is broken. because we are all of them.
