Great neighborhood

One of our few hangups with deciding on our house (5 years ago) was the proximity to the mall. Our backyard neighbors are across the street from Sears, so we get some mall traffic... kids cutting through, lots of garbage blowing into our yard, and the occasional shoplifter being pursued by police.

Yup, I've been lucky enough to witness two arrests right from my own home! The first was last summer, I was out weeding when the pursuit unfolded in front of me. Max was sleeping inside, but Addie was roaming around with me, so I beelined back inside and locked the doors. My first thought was, "I left the back door open, maybe someone took refuge in the house!" Mother's paranoia, I guess. My imagination is vivid when it comes to what could happen to my children.

Then, this past Thursday, lightning struck again. Addie was still banned from civilization, but it was the last day to pay the deposit on her dance costume so I had to bundle the kids up and drop by her class to give them a check. Max was napping, so I waited till as late as possible. Finally, we head out and were walking into the garage when I saw a police officer coming around the other side of the garage. He asked if I saw anyone running through here, and I realized I did see someone running around the house behind me that is currently vacant. He kind of blew me off, so I proceeded to load up the kids. I got Max buckled in, and felt I should turn on the light to the garage (hanging around in a dark garage while the police are looking for someone doesn't seem too smart). Just as I did, I heard the officer start screaming at someone that was apparently hiding underneath our giant arborvitae at the end of our driveway. I guess he found who he was looking for, but all I could think was Get In The Car!!! Close The Garage Door!!!

Did I mention that we have a detached garage? So we were stuck, with no windows to see what was going on. I waited a couple minutes, then went out the side door to see if it was safe. By then, our street was lined with cop cars, and our driveway was blocked. I was going to miss her dance teacher, so I pulled my car out and waited. I saw five officers taking care of this perpetrator, and one noticed me waiting so he came to talk to me. "Don't worry, ma'am, we just apprehended a shoplifter that was fleeing the mall. Nothing to worry about." Yeah, easy for him to say. He doesn't have to live here! At least I can rest assured knowing there's apparently very little crime in the area. There can't be, since there were so many available officers chasing down a shoplifter! Isn't that the kind of thing that usually gets shrugged off? I guess this means we actually do live in a great neighborhood.

Good to know.