When Lynda Fell Asleep....the World Stood Still

When Lynda was a little girl, she rarely took naps.  IF she somehow fell asleep, the world stood still.  No one woke her up at home.  No one woke her up at school.  It didn't matter to us when she slept IF she was sleeping it was a miracle and you don't mess with a miracle.

One afternoon when I went to pick Lynda up from LCDC, I parked in the parking lot of the Episcopal Church where the program was located at the time and left the car running while I went to the door to get her.  A staff member met me at the door and told me she was still sleeping so I told her to let her sleep.  I'd wait.  As I turned to walk back to my car, I saw a man open the door and get into my car.  Not wanting my car to be stolen, I start running toward the car screaming at the man to get out.  He did get out WITH MY PURSE.

There were no cell phones to call the police and what idiot would try to steal a car in broad open daylight with people walking around?  More importantly, what 24 year old female would run after the man who had her purse primarily because it had a picture of her child and it was the only copy?

He didn't drop my purse and we never found it anywhere around although we looked and looked.  The incident taught me not to leave my keys in the car with the engine running even if I'm standing next to it because I'm convinced there's someone who is dumb enough to try and steal anything at anytime.

When I got back to my car after chasing the thief, I checked on Lynda and she was still sleeping.  Then it occurred to me.  What exactly did I plan to do if I actually caught up to the man?  Let me say at this point, I wouldn't recommend chasing a would-be car thief.   It's dangerous and not a wise choice.  In my defense I do have to say that when you're the parent of a child with autism who could go for 48 hours without ever closing her eyes.  When you have stood beside a child having life-threatening seizure after seizure....and fought for two years to be allowed to legally adopt her, you  lose touch with your own immortality.

It didn't take long for me to jerk myself back into the reality of just how poor a choice I'd made  to chase a person who might have a weapon but at the time....it was just second nature to move into crisis mode with only a second's warning.

I'm glad I didn't catch up to the guy who  tried to steal my car.  After all, I had just become the parent of a child with autism and operating in mother tiger mode was making me pretty fearless.  Who knows what might have happened?  It's not good to confront a mother tiger with a sleeping cub close by!