A lesson learned

Years ago when I was in my mid 20's, I used to like to go grocery shopping late at night. After I had just spent half the night before up with a baby and then been to work all day long, the last thing I wanted to do was swim through the store isles with a cart full of grocery's with a hundred other shoppers and then stand in a check out line forever. So I usually left around 11:30pm. Well this one particular night I had gone to WalMart and for some reason I had Jens with me. He was really small. Like 2 years old. Maybe 3. I had parked on the far east end of the store. I was not one if those people who would drive circles trying to find the closest spot possible. My mom is one of those people. If I park right next to a handicap, it still is not close enough for her. I need to park her in the first and closest handicap stall there is available! Drives me CRAZY!!!!! So, I had parked in a stall completely by itself, off on a side where really no one was around. We went in, did our shopping and headed out of the store. Just as I was about to exit the building, I realized that I was walking out the wrong side of the store doors. I was walking out the far west doors and I was parked clear over on the east side, alone, and in the dark. I said to Jens, "Oh, we are going out the wrong doors...." and just as soon as I said it, I stopped and turned my body only around. I didn't even have time to turn my cart because there was a man standing so close behind me that I don't know how I didn't know he was there. He was seriously so close that I am surprised that I couldn't feel him breathing down my neck. He was taller than me and in a black jacket. He seemed to loom over me. He was a total creeper! I instantly got chills up and down my legs and arms and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. STUPIDLY, I just turned back to Jens and kept pushing him out the store doors. Stupid, stupid! Hindsight, I should have never done that! I should have just whirled around him, went to the front of the store, told them there was a man following me and had an employee walk me out. But I didn't. I didn't! I continued to walk Jens out as fast as my legs would walk without breaking into a dead run. I looked like one of those speed walkers, racing across the parking lot. He continued to follow, a small distance away but keeping in stride with me. I looked behind me at him constantly! He had to know that he was completely freaking me out. I wondered how long he had been following me. Had he followed me through the store? Had he scouted me out? Was I his prey and didn't know it? I then noticed an old car pull up slowly down one of the isles. It rolled down it's window part way. The man following me leaned in and said something quickly to the driver. He never stopped walking and the car never stopped rolling, they just said something quick to each other. Now I am really panicking! I am thinking, "Great! These two are in cahoots with each other. One will grab me and throw me in the car while the other punches the gas and little Jens will be left out here alone. Or worse yet, they might kidnap Jens!" I started to jog with my cart. I was half way to my car. I start to tell Jens, "Listen son, when mama gets to the car, we are not taking our groceries with us tonight. I want you to stand up out of the cart seat when we are almost to the car, I am going to grab you and we are going to jump in and you are going to drive with me on my lap for a minute." He asked me why and I just said that mama was in a real hurry. I just didn't want him to fight me about getting his prize that we had just bought from the cart or have him try to get in the back in his carseat. We were almost to my car and I decide that the man was far enough away for me to take my groceries after all. I throw Jens in the front seat and shut my door. I pop my trunk and I am literally throwing my groceries in the trunk. Eggs, bread, milk, didn't matter. I threw them in. I slammed my trunk down....................and then I saw him. He was standing in front of my car against the hood! All blood left my legs. I was so scared! I was so mad at myself for wasting those precious 30 seconds! I could have been out of here and I wasted them on a few sacks of groceries!!! I RAN around my car, he was coming toward me and I threw my drivers side door open blocking him from me. I looked him dead in the eye and said, "EXCUSE ME!" I jumped in, locked the door, stuck the keys in the ignition and just then the car that he had talked to drove slowly past me. And the man just walked slowly past my car door and kept on walking. I started my car up and peeled out of there! I drove a good ways away, pulled into a well lit and busy gas station and then got out and buckled Jens in his seat. I don't know where else the man could have gone. I was parked along side of the road, there were no stalls past me. He had to be coming for me! He had to! And if by some chance he wasn't, don't you think that he could tell that he was frightening me? Surely he could tell and if he wasn't after me then he should have backed off. I cried the whole way home and cried some more when I got home and told Jeff. It was one of the most frightening experiences! It took me several years to go shopping at night again. And I only go shopping if I HAVE to. And I always say to the bag boy, "I need some help out." Sometimes they look at me funny because I may only have one sack or just one gallon of milk. But I just say to them, "I really don't need your help, I just want you to walk me out. I am a woman and it is dark. They get it then and they always walk me out!

So the moral of the story is: Be aware of your surroundings! Know who is close to you, who is watching you and know if someone is following you. I now constantly check behind me while I shop, just to see if I can see anyone following me. I am very aware in the parking lot and I park close now. Keep yourself safe!