Skip to main content

The Children Are Ours...



While visiting our oldest in Los Angeles, and showing our youngest Colleges in California. I witnessed a crime nearly completed.  There's not ever been a time when our daughters saw me do what I did today for someone else's daughter.  But you see as I told them, "All the children are mine."

Both my daughters are adopted.  And just because I didn't give birth to you. Or I didn't raise you, doesn't mean I don't care about you. Its converse, I care. Because all the children in my view are my responsibility.
At that time I told them this,, as I had just previously been at a usually busy intersection of downtown Los Angeles,  then it happened. Right infront of me/us.

I was at a red light, it was 9:45 in the morning. The three of us were headed off to see a college for our youngest.  My oldest already attending college nearby sat in the back seat.  She knows the dangers of cities, and this one in particular. She does get it.  But you never 'get it' until you see it in action.

As we awaited the light to change to green, we saw a homeless woman 5'11" or about that size weighing 186-211 lbs, seeming to be of thirty-nine to forty-six years of age. Hard to tell weight, for she had an off-white blanket wrapped around her top like a shawl. She wore a long thick blueish coat.

As I saw her wrap her arm around a young, twenty year old looking, slight, female, Asian. The young victim appeared no more than a petite 5'2" student of the local college, as she wore a traditional looking backpack. I immediately saw the look of discomfort on the young lady's face, and a slight squirm of body language. All that, showed me a person was becoming traumatized. I knew what to do. Or at least what I was willing to do.  That is anything for someone else's kid.

Realizing I had to take into account the safety of our 17 and 19 year old daughters, and not offend traffic regulations in a state I do not reside in. Yet respond quickly to someone I didn't know, yet felt they were in danger. I needed a quick, clear read on the situation.  I know what I'm capable of. I know what I'm willing to give to someone else's daughter. 

It is a situation I am familiar with. And I have virtually no fear, and I don't contemplate confidence in my abilities. It's like I'm always ready. Scared? Pissed? You bet. But determined to stop it. Yes indeed. You bet.

So my read was correct. I rolled down my car window and called out to the twenty year old college kid, "Hey Ma'am! Yo! You alright?!" The homeless perp who's arm wrapped around the girl looked at me. Acting as though ready to attack me in my car, began to release the girl. As she did, she began to curse at me.  The twenty year old escaped and ran down the street I was to travel along.  The perp backed off from my car. Maybe she didn't  feel my apprehension that I might have felt initially, which turned to anger. It was a tense moment.  I thought for a second. Then I realized, the perp may have thought it was three against one. Hmmmm. Yet I knew I would handle it alone.

The perp truly wanted no part of me or perhaps us, she departed from the area quickly.  As the light changed and I turned the corner our daughters saw the young college girl running from the area. One announced to me, "Mom, she was scared. She ran." 

I replied, "Good. You know she couldn't escape initially, because she was so stunned of how quickly a crime was almost completed. She now realizes her vulnerability. Hopefully that will save her in the future.  And so you guys know, all the children are my children.  Thats how I've seen the world. They all matter. I will defend them as I would you.  Know that. That easily could have been one of you guys." ---Jody-Lynn Reicher 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2023 Holiday Letter from the Reicher's

Well, I didn't think I'd be doing a Holiday Letter this year, but here goes... The Spirit of Norm is in the air. As the wind whips with minus a true snowstorm.  In hopes the Farmers Almanac was correct, I pray to the snow gods. Rain ensued the month of December thus far. We have nearly tripled the amount of rainfall usual for December in New Jersey. And I've witnessed its treachery. Storms such as these hit us hardest in July. Then remained fairly intense through til about early October.  Our daughters are doing well, Thank God.  Their Dad would be proud of them. Our oldest Sarah, now a Junior at UCLA pursuing her degree in Chemical Engineering. She's digging the whole California scene. Which I thought it was for her. She's had some good traveling on her off times from school. For her March 2023 week off, she drove her and a few friends out to Lake Tahoe and went downhill skiing for a first in nearly 5 years. She had to rent the ski equipment.  Funny enough when ...

She's Not Exactly Betty White

She? Yes, she is not exactly Betty White. Nibbles is cute and funny, though. She's one of our two bunnies now nearing 100 years old. She at times appears to need a wheeled walker absolutely, with tennis balls. But instead, I've now spotted her, little rugs covering our living room to dining room floors. Not too many of them, for she would think she was close to a litter box and then there'd be a big mess.  Right now, I'm working mostly remotely. This allows for me to check on her four times a day. Too, I've made my office temporarily in our dining room.  And thank God for all that. Because I have to make certain her right leg that can no longer function as part of her hopping mechanics to get around, does not get hung up on the side of the litter box. I have to clean her hay excursions, she cannot always control her hay poops, never mind her bladder. That's where my excessive laundry loads have headed. No big deal. I barely use the dryer. I have a drying rack a...

Balloons Are Amazing

Especially the ones that have helium in them. Balloons for some reason seem to be a sign of happiness. I remember as a child when our family would go to the annual Fireman’s Picnic near Labor Day weekend. It was an annual event put on by the volunteer fire department my dad belonged to. I can’t remember what I loved the most about it. Yet, I could say the helium balloons were in the top three items at that celebration of sorts for me. The hamburgers were a gift from God. Not the kind of food I saw regularly, because it was once a year. I can’t recall any other time I’d eaten a hamburger at home. We could afford chicken. We’d eaten squirrel, which had actually been shot by one of my dad’s friends when firing of what I believe was a BeeBee gun. And venison was had when one of my dad’s friends hit a deer with his late 1960’s early 1970’s suburban vehicle in Maine, totaling it of course. Too, for a few summers we’d received massive amounts of blue fish for free. It’s still my favorite food...