Good Bye City Life

One afternoon I needed to run up to the grocery store for something. So I loaded the two youngest, Patrick and Josh in the mini van and headed out. I got to the store and put both the boys in the shopping cart.
This was standard operating procedure ever since Miah was 3 and disappeared in a store. I panicked and ran all over screaming his name inside and outside the store. Then on my way back in I noticed him by the Chicken Machine, it lays eggs with prizes in them. “Look mommy, watch.” He was fascinated with it and all I could do was grab him and hug him and make him promise never to do that again.
So we walk through the store and I loaded the cart around the kids and went to check out. I paid and headed to the door and what do I see outside, a man waving a gun around. So I said “Boys we’re going to wait here a minute” with my heart pounding in my chest. I watched as the police showed up and disarmed the man and we headed to the car and the safety of home.
After getting the boys off to school one morning, I put Patrick in the car seat and headed over to Wal-Mart. Upon leaving I was sitting waiting to make a left turn and the guy behind me thought I should take the chance and honked at me. In all my driving experience I have been in one small fender bender and I was never one to take chances especially having a baby in the car, so I waited till I was comfortable going. This guy was not happy with me. He sped off around me, cut me off and came to a screeching halt all before I even realized what was happening. He stopped his car and marched up to my window and started yelling at me, all in the middle of the road. Now I have a bit of bravado when cornered so I yelled back and as he marched back to his car I started writing down his plate number. He noticed and came running back, “ You don’t want to do that. I can find where you live.” Ok, now the psycho has me stunned into silence. He finally left and drove away. I was shaking so bad it was all I could do to drive home. I got Patrick out of the car and into the house and called Garett. I had lost control by now and he couldn’t understand a word I was saying so he came home. When I was finally able to relate what had happened we called the cops and gave them the license plate number. They came back later and told me not to worry they had a nice long talk with the guy and he wouldn’t be bothering me again. What about the next person? This is when I bought my first cell phone and never been without ever since.
Now along with all this craziness, Garett was getting sick of the commute to work everyday. Miah was getting ready to graduate high school so we started thinking about moving. We wanted a simpler life out of the city, which seemed to be closing in on us.