bam.bam.bam.bam.

i love to sleep on rainy nites.
i like the sound and the coziness of it all...
snuggled in snoozin' peacefully, all of a sudden
there was a really really loud
BAM BAM BAM BAM

i hopped outta my bed shaking.
went over to the guys' rooms.
flipped on the hall light, wondering if it would
go on.

maybe it was a transformer that blew from the rain, i thought.
altho....it was awfully loud and awfully close.....

i cracked open noah's door.
he was laying there so i thought he was asleep.
i stood at the door, with the hall light coming in on
him, trying to decide if i should wake him.
he sat up and said something about the noise.

you heard it??? i asked.
zakk cracks his door open, pops his head thru the
crack, squints at me in the light and says
'i guess i didn't just dream that noise?'

as we're standing in the living room trying to figure
out what to do, zakk's cell phone rings.

it's one in the morning. who the heck is calling???
he gets there too late. comes back looking puzzled.
he didn't recognize the number.

then our home phone rings.

i pick up the phone completely muddled. after my
hello a guy's voice says 'terri????'
so now my brain has totally clogged.
'yeahhhhh??????'

it's my next door neighbor telling me he heard
the sound. thought someone got shot over here and
called the police. said he sat up shaking from the
noise.

i was so glad to know about the police.
woulda freaked if he hadn't told me.
and more importantly, i was so glad he was on the other
end of the phone.

we exchanged stories, and hung up.

i grabbed my stuffed monkey and held it as i paced around
the living room.

the police did arrive. they didn't come in. but they drove
around with spotlights in the rain....
i held my monkey and watched from the window.

when there was nothing to do but go back to sleep,
i took my monkey with me.

i swear, i held that thing tight.
there are times i really miss havin' a man to snuggle next
to....this is one of them.
i thought of my neighbor who called.
he's snuggling back on in all alone too.
nah, i thought. and i grinned.
that just doesn't work right.
and i held my monkey closer.

this morning when i put the recycling out, i joked that
i went looking for dead bodies.

thing is......i did.

well, i glanced around anyway.

it was the weirdest feeling.
and i really really didn't want to find one.

i'm still voting it was a transformer that blew.
i like that thought.
this other one i don't like.

and the story? i thought it was kinda funny and would be fun
to post. but that's not the real reason i'm posting it.
for me, it was the reminder that things change in a flash.
that last nite coulda been awful. it coulda been a shooting.
it coulda been one of us, it coulda been my neighbor.
and then suddenly, life is changed.

that's the real reason for the post.
one minute you're asleep. the next you're standing in the
hall shaking.

it happens.
and i'm so grateful i could wake up just fine this morning.