Hi,
This is Clay Stevenson and welcome to Of Mice and Moments,
A podcast that finds significance in the small moments.
The sound of firecrackers wasn't all that uncommon living in the country.
So as we were lying in bed one Thursday evening,
We were not alarmed when at around 1030pm,
We heard someone shooting off what sounded like blackjack firecrackers.
It was slightly curious that it sounded close to the house.
Living on 10 acres,
We had a sizable buffer between us and the neighbor.
But again,
We heard fireworks fairly regularly living outside of town.
However,
What we found out about those fireworks impacted our lives in a drastic way.
A few minutes after hearing the popping,
The phone rang.
On the other end was a neighbor.
The first question out of his mouth was,
Hey,
Clay,
I'm just checking on you all.
Are you okay?
Yeah,
We're fine.
I answered.
What's going on?
My neighbor proceeded to tell me that he had been sitting in his backyard around a fire pit with friends and family when he heard gunshots.
When he looked up,
He noticed a Dodge Charger driving in front of our house and saw a passenger aiming a pistol toward our property shooting.
I was shocked and alarmed.
It almost felt like what he was telling me couldn't be real.
And I may have been dismissive if any other neighbor tried to convince me that the fireworks were gunshots.
But this neighbor was a local police officer.
After I hung up,
Angie and I went into a bit of a panic.
Why would someone shoot at our house?
Would it happen again?
And the kids are sleeping in the front room.
We ran up,
Checked them.
Thank goodness they were fine and fast asleep.
But feeling so unsettled at the moment,
We had them sleep with us.
The next day,
We checked the buildings on our small hoppy farm for bullet holes or traces of what happened the night before.
Our inspection turned up nothing.
We felt lucky then that in this instance everyone was safe.
But the next few weeks and months were wracked with uncertainty.
Would something like this happen again?
Was this simply a case of kids joyriding,
Shooting out of a car in the country?
Or did someone shoot at a deer?
Was it a gang initiation?
Regardless,
We seriously considered whether or not that location was safe for us to live.
But we also didn't want to be motivated by our fears without reasonably considering the situation,
Our options,
And the likelihood of it happening again.
A year passed and time proved that it was a freak incident.
Nothing like that happened again.
Until.
.
.
Angie came home one morning after dropping Macy off at play school.
She had our son rain with her who was four.
When she arrived at the house,
She pulled around back to the entrance that we normally used and noticed that she had left the door open.
Chastising herself mentally,
She let Rain run into the house before her.
But when she stepped over the threshold of the back door,
She noticed that something was very wrong.
It felt odd.
As she looked around she observed the reason for her unease.
The TV was missing,
The gaming console was gone and things looked out of order.
Immediately realizing that we'd been robbed,
She quickly gathered Rain in her arms and rushed back to the car where she locked the doors and called the police.
When I arrived at the house and spoke with the police officers,
They informed me that there wasn't much they could do.
They hadn't been able to find any fingerprints,
But gave us advice on what we could do in the future to prevent more break-ins.
When they left,
Angie and I sat there feeling the sense of hopelessness you get when you're taken advantage of and have no recourse.
There's an emptiness you feel inside.
We were just robbed.
As you can imagine,
Once again,
This had us talking about moving.
It was essentially the straw that broke the camel's back.
Going back to over a year before,
That phone call from our neighbor set things in motion.
So in the end,
Experiencing a drive-by shooting and burglary led us to move off the 10-acre dream farm.
Yes fear was a factor in our decision making.
We were concerned for our safety,
But we didn't make a snap decision.
We took a reasoned approach and felt like we made the best decision.
Moving into our new house,
We were faced with all the issues that new homeowners face.
What inspections to get,
What repairs to ask for,
What kind of insurance to get.
The insurance salesman said if I paid more,
I'd be better off if I got broken into again.
I considered this and there was some fear of getting broken into again.
I mean it happened once.
And if it caught us by surprise,
It could be devastating financially.
In that moment,
I wanted to opt for the more expensive option.
We would be more safe with that coverage.
I was concerned,
But I was letting the fear motivate me.
He continued to push and I continued to feel the fear.
But at some point in the conversation,
I had enough.
I didn't want to let fear cause me to make a bad decision.
So I told him I'd call him back after I had a chance to talk to Angie and sleep on it and consider a reasoned approach to the situation.
In hindsight,
That was the best thing I could have done.
We made a decision that was researched,
Informed,
And one that made good financial sense.
Over time,
That decision proved wise and sound.
But if I would have made snap decisions in the moment motivated by fear,
I know they wouldn't have been the best.
So how about you?
Are you faced with situations and choices where you feel fear rising up within you,
Driving you to act?
Fear is a natural reaction that often helps us stay out of danger.
But is it clouding your judgment?
If so,
I've found that taking a step back,
Giving decisions a little time to breathe and letting reason be the driving force helps me make more sound choices.
I encourage you,
As you feel the fear rise up,
Give it some space,
Give it some time,
And instead of allowing fear to cloud your mind,
Allow reason to set you free.
