Hug Your Loved Ones!

I cannot express how important it is to tell people how much you love them, hug them every day and spend as much quality time together as possible.  The people we care about are the most important things in this world.  In the end nothing else matters.  It doesn't matter if the dishes are done or if you were able to buy the newest coolest electronic, or whatever else it is that seems important in the moment.  All that really matters is having people in your life that you love and who love you back and making sure that they know how much you care.  We were reminded of this yesterday afternoon when a bullet passed through our front door:

Barely five minutes after walking home from school with my son, I heard three loud popping noises.  There are fireworks set off in our neighborhood all the time so I just assumed it was that and didn't really think any more about it.

Then when I came into the living room a few minutes later I noticed this picture laying on the floor with a hole in it.

I looked up at the spot above the tv where it usually sits and realized there was a hole there too.

This ended up being where they dug the bullet out of our house.  Our son was on the other side of this wall using the bathroom.  If it had gone through the wall just a couple of feet over instead of the door....things could have been really bad.  Or if it had happened a few minutes earlier as we were walking home.  Or if we had been in the living room doing homework.  There are so many ways that this could have all been much, much worse.

As it was, everyone made it through physically unharmed.  We just have some holes in our doors and the wall.  As well as wood splinters all over our living room from the where the bullet busted through the door.

We don't have any known enemies so the police believe it was just a random drive-by.  Apparently these have been happening often lately in the Twin Cities area.  I didn't think to ask but they didn't mention there being any casualties.  Their best guess it that it is a bunch of stupid teenagers who think it is cool to fire into people's houses.

Who knows, maybe they just didn't like our 'No Solicitors' sign.  

My husband was on the way home from a business trip so he didn't arrive until a few hours later.  It was difficult having to deal with the police alone and put on a happy face for our boy but it was probably a good thing that he had that time to cool down.  Thankfully one of our friends came over to stay with us until Shelby got home.  I am so grateful to have a friend like him who we know we can count on any time no matter what the circumstances may be.

Our families really want us to move back home right away.  Honestly the thought crossed my mind.  Unfortunately while we were already planning to move back...that just isn't a possibility right now.  Our plan was to put the house on the market in the Spring of 2013.  The very earliest we can list it without having to pay back the first time homebuyers tax credit is August of this year.  We do not have the money to pay it back and with the housing market the way it is we will probably barely even be able to sell it for enough to pay off the mortgage much less another $8K to pay back the tax credit.

The only way to move right now would be to just walk away and face foreclosure.  We aren't really considering that option right now which means we are stuck here for at least 7 more months.  Since it was (in theory) completely random the police don't believe we are in any danger of having another situation like this.  So we will just try to put the pieces back together and move on.  If there does happen to be another shooting in our neighborhood though - we are gone.  I don't care if that means filing bankruptcy or facing other long-lasting repercussions.  I will not stay here if we discover that this was just the beginning instead of some crazy fluke.

Soooo....yeah....I still can barely wrap my head around this and put a cohesive thought together.  I'm a bit numb right now.  I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I just had to shut my emotions off in order to stay calm for my boy.  He seems completely un-traumatized by the entire experience.  He told me that someone must have accidentally fired their gun and it just accidentally came into our house.  According to him it's all just a big accident.  Coincidentally on the way to school that morning he told me that he wants to be a police officer when he grows up.  So he was thrilled to get to talk with several police officers and receive sticker badges from them.

As unhappy as I am with the whole situation and somewhat anxious about being in my own home now...I am so very thankful that everyone is safe.  Which is why I am begging you to tell people that you love them and hug them every day because you never know what tomorrow may bring....

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