Feeling Safe

So tonight I got/had to do something that I have only ever done one other time in my life...That is call 911. Before you panick...everyone is fine and safe.. I'll explain. We went to the mall tonight to return a shirt I bought before Christmas. Devin is getting Cache out of the back while I'm waiting for them my body jerked itself down to the ground in reaction to two loud "gun shot " sounding noises..(later to be disputed as possibly a car back firing.. we'll never know) All I know is my body reacted so fast I don't know which happened first the noise or the reaction.. It was all so strange at the first moment I looked at Devin like: "Get down,,,am I crazy or did you not hear that?" I went from fright to feeling stupid in less than 2 seconds.. but then as I was trying to explain to him what I heard a bunch of commotion two rows over in the parking lot caught our eye...and we couldn't see it all but a police officer was there,, a car frantically backed out and sped off.. The officer was hunched over and a person on the side walk yelled at him: "hey! are you alright?" He was totally out of breath and ran inside talking on his radio that "A green car was just stolen.. One got away in the car and three more ran back into the mall." I had all these images of the mall shootings and said.."No We are not going in there.. I want to go home.. it's probably safe but I don't want to risk taking Cache in there. NO WAY!" So Devin obliged and we got back into the car but as we're getting back in.. One girl came sprinting across the parking lot.. and then from the other side another girl.. they both ran right to where the skirmish had happened before and looked around... ran off and jumped into some bushes! So we drove off passed those bushes out of curiousity and the girls were gone but all the these shopping bags were in the bushes.. Iwanted to get out and get the stuff.. but felt that might be over stepping my boundries..so I called 911 and as I did I saw the two girls hiding behind an SUV...Devin tried to wave down the police officers that just kept circling around and around.. not seeing what we were seeing....so I told them exactly where they were hiding on the phone... but they ran off before the police came back...I felt the strong need to just leave... I had thought I just heard gun shots about 10 minutes ago...Cache was screaming while I was on the phone..because we had basically forced him back into his seat to get outta there ASAP...and He knew the mall meant train ride... Well that's the story... We took Cache to get a 10 cent ice cream cone to make him happy and went home...We locked the door and sang primary songs..partly for FHE, partly to help me feel safe.. but I just still feel less safe... and never realized how much I take that feeling of security for granted... As I was contemplating the events of the night and still feeling adreniline in my body..an hour later and just amazed at how that blanket of security was just gone for me...and realizing..that some people live like this every single day.. in Iraq and even 25 minutes down the road in East side of the city. I shutter opposite my life is than some.. I was just thinking two days ago.. the temperature dropped below zero and our furnace went out all in one night. It was also a feeling if insecurity when our house started to quickly get colder, but we started a fire in the fireplace and found our space heater in storage..kept Cache room nice and toasty all night.. I was just comparing the two evenings where each night a luxury that I take for granted was taken away from me momentarily.... I realized I would take freezing cold over feeling unsafe anyday....Long story but I'm so much ever more deeply grateful for police officers and soldiers that fight for our safety and freedom...I still feel less safe.. but maybe I'll go watch some "office" to distract my mind and start taking safety for granted again.. OH by the way if you want to hear about my other 911 call I had to make last year...just ask.. it's kind of a funny story, but I'll save that for another time for now..