Friday, November 20, 2015

November 20: Writing Prompt #324-Safety First

Share the story of a time you felt unsafe.
I remember a storm one time when the boys were both babies, and we were living in a house right on the Pacific Ocean. I happened to be on my own for the night, and the wind and waves got pretty high. It was quite noisy out on the back porch, and when I stepped outside to see, all the patio furniture and other outside toys and such had been pushed around and over, and I had to secure them.  I was uneasy and a little scared, unsure of how I would handle things with the boys by myself if the storm got so bad that we had to leave the house.  Thankfully, they slept through the whole thing (as they usually do when it is something like that), but it was more than a little nerve-wracking for me until the winds and rain settled down later in the night. 

Another experience that just came to mind happened when I was studying abroad in Spain.  I was by myself one afternoon during siesta time in one of the town squares where all the shops and cafĂ© are located, and I had to go to the bathroom. I found a public restroom and stepped inside. Right as I did so, a man I did not know stepped in beside me. He came toward me in a threatening manner as if to grab me, and I shouted out “No,” which is thankfully the same word and meaning in Spanish because I don’t think I would have been able to say much else in his native language at that time due to my fear.  He turned and ran off after this, but needless to say, I no longer felt the need to go to the bathroom, so I left and got to a more public area where I took a breath and thanked God nothing more happened than that. 

No comments: