Maternal Instincts

Last night while we were outside working in the yard a police officer drove by and stopped when he saw me.  "Have you seen a creepy guy hanging around here?"  "No, I haven't..."  I walked back and stopped Brian while he was mowing and told him what had just happened.  He said he did just see someone and he was walking south on our street.  Unfortunately, the cop circled a few more times but I never got his attention.  Another couple of men drove by in a Blazer and asked if I had seen the guy and I replied that I hadn't, but my husband said he was headed "that way."  Their response was, "He's not from around here!"

Now at first I thought, "Come on people! 1. It's not illegal to be creepy  (although sometimes I wish it was haha) and 2. Are the guys in the Blazer thinking this is Bounty Hunter or Cowboys and Indians?"  But after Brian and I were inside I told him that in many ways, I'm grateful people are watching out for the "creepy guys."  After what happened last week in the Jewish community in Brooklyn, we can never be too careful protecting our children.  (I can't even write more about that atrocity because it makes me sick to my stomach).

I always said I would not be that overly-protective mom.  My mom was what I call - crazy protective.  There was to be no jumping on trampolines, no riding 4-wheelers or dirt bikes, no swimming without supervision, and definitely -- no going to the bathroom by yourself!!  As a kid I repeated, "Mom, seriously, I'll be fine!!" at least 1700 times.  When I left for my year in Australia one of the last things my mom said to me was, "Now don't go to the bathroom by yourself."  I looked at her with an obnoxious grin and said, "do you mean the next 24 hours in the airport or the whole year I am halfway around the world?"   My point:  A mom never stops being a mom- whether the child is 7 months or 37, lives upstairs or halfway around the world.

And yes, I have turned into my over-protective mother.  (I know she's loving every second of this).  Brian wants to get Jackson a little dirt bike!  NEGATIVE.  Over 4th of July weekend, he thought he should take him for a ride on the 4-wheeler.  To that my reply was, "He's my baby!  No!"

My old-lady neighbor said today, after speaking about above creepy man, "It can be scary when you're alone."  I said, "I could care less about me, but if anyone tried to hurt Jackson I would kill him with my bare hands!"  She kinda chuckled, not knowing how much the psychotic-mother-who-loves-her-baby-more-than-life means it!  Even the past couple of bad storms have sent me into a tailspin.  When we had a tornado siren go off around 2 am towards the end of April, I zoomed into the nursery at close to 65 mph, grabbed Jackson and started sprinting down the stairs.  The only detail I missed was I had picked up the little man by his feet and he was suspended upside down for the first 6 stairs.  Brian said he didn't know what was going to be worse -- the storm -- or a mother's fury!

All this to say, maternal instincts are something you really can't imagine until you have them.  You can spend 26 years (like I did) thinking your own mom is the biggest fruit loop this side of the Mississippi, but the minute that bub gets laid on your chest, you're going to be just like her.  Oh and one more thing, after some little kid pointed out Jackson's mole to his mom the other day, I also determined that I'm not going to be able to send Jackson to public school because (as I said to Brian) "I'm going to be the mom that threatens little bullies on the playground that make fun of my child."  Lord, help me!