Dangers of Letting Strangers in Your Home...

I debated on writing this post because, to be quite honest, I'm still a bit shaken up by it. BUT in the end, I decided if I can help ANYONE of you or anyone you know, it would be worth it. I know it's a long post and I'm sorry, but I'm sure it might be an eye opener to some of you.

Here's the story...

We're moving, you all know that, hence the lack of posts, so we've been cleaning out stuff and selling things we don't need or use anymore. We have this video gaming chair that had been on KSL for a while so when I got a text yesterday morning about it I was stoked. The guy wanted to come get it and said he'd be here between 1 and 2. My husband left for the morning to get Taya (our 3 year old) out of the house- she's been a little stir crazy with all the packing going on- so he was gone, leaving me home with just Dodger (our 15 month old). I jumped in the shower and when I had gotten out I had a text from the guy that read, "hear". Yes, it was spelled wrong :).... That's besides the point, but anyway I text him back saying I was upstairs and asked if he was still here. He said he went to grab lunch and he'd be right back. Oh, and by the way, this was only 11:00 so I was a little bugged that he came 2 hours early and honestly, didn't like that Cam wasn't home. Anyway, 10 minutes later he was "hear" again and knocked on the door. I had the gaming chair right in our entryway so the guy could just take a quick look and leave. He showed up with a friend and they both came in, looked at it for a minute and paid me for it. The one guy who was buying it from me was super nice, shorter, dark hair and looked like a descent person. The other one was pretty tall, dark hair and didn't say much. So, the shorter one starts asking me about our house, how much we're selling it for, where we're moving, yadda yadda yadda... He tells me where he's from, then he asks if our house has a basement. I'm holding Dodger and just so ready for them to leave by then. As the guy is talking to me I look up to see the friend checking out our front door. It's a pretty cool door, I'm not gonna lie. It's kind of a castle looking door with a window in it. So he's looking at it and all of the sudden starts touching the lock, then reaches his hand up higher to where the latch is. He mentions how neat the door is while the other guy keeps talking to me (at this point I feel like it's more of a distraction). I look back up and see the guy trying to latch the door. He tried again and my heart sank. Ya know that feeling when your throat drops into your stomach?  I reached in my pocket to find my phone to dial 911 and it wasn't there. My first thought was 'what are they gonna do to me?' Then I start thinking about the other guy asking if we had a basement, and remember the taller one has the chair cord in his hands. I was trying to keep my cool, trying to figure out what to do, and notice the guy can't latch the lock. At this point I'm praising the heavens our latch can only be locked by pushing the door in tight. Honestly, I completely froze. It's all a blur what really happened after that, but they left, I bolted the door, turned on our alarm, started crying and called my husband. P.S. I'm literally shaking as I write this, that's how much it terrified me. 

So here's why I'm writing this post... I'm usually a pretty cautious person. I never leave my kids outside alone, never let my kids out of my sight in public places, USUALLY don't let strangers in my house when my husband isn't home ;), etc. BUT yesterday I was thrown off guard. The guy arrived 2 hours earlier than I expected and so I was put in a COMPLETELY VULNERABLE position. The chair had been on KSL for so long I just wanted it gone, which honestly was my biggest mistake. I was too afraid to lose the sale by telling the guy he couldn't come yet so I thought it would be fine. Plus I worry about stuff a lot so pretty much I told myself to just relax. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I cannot stress enough what a CRAZY, DANGEROUS world we live in. You cannot for ONE SECOND be naive enough to think that bad things will never happen to you or your family. I know that nothing ended up happening to me, but honestly I can't help but think my Heavenly Father was in my favor yesterday. I keep replaying the day and thinking how many things I could have done differently, so for anyone of you that sell things on KSL, Craigslist, etc. please please please do not let anyone in your home while you're alone. And better yet, meet the person in a public place for the exchange if at all possible. My husband made a good point yesterday, no amount of money is worth your life. 

This experience has definitely made me more aware of my surroundings. I always think of things like this happening in the movies--- the music gets creepy, the lighting goes darker...--- but seriously, this was just an ordinary day, sunny outside, blinds open., 11:00 in the morning. And again, I know nothing happened, but it was definitely enough to scare me into being more cautious from here on out. 

So yes, I know this is a random blog that doesn't fit into any kind of crafting category, but I cannot stress enough how careful we need to be. Please be safe. Please keep your kids safe. I've been pretty hard on myself for this one! I've never wanted to be that person that was too naive to think it was ok to leave their kids in the car "for just a second" or to let them outside without being watched. But, let your guard down for a second and bad things CAN happen. So learn a lesson from my experience (and thank goodness the experience didn't end up being more traumatic!)  and be more cautious. Don't let this kind of thing happen to you. Be smart. Be safe.

Also, Mom, I know you're going to read this. Don't cry. And don't kill me. I'm fine. I love you. :)

post by: Ashley