Life's Threat

From the moment that you enter this world during the wonderful birth process, it is a joyous occasion, but for some (like my son) who ended up in the NICU for a little over a week. This was the first curveball for myself, and for him. He made it through just fine, and is now a healthy and very intelligent 9 year old. I am guiding him and molding him to be prepared for some of life's threats that will inevitably come his direction. I am teaching him the proper way to handle certain situations, and how to work through other situations that could alter his present course, and send him on a new course. Yes there will be struggles, but it is how we handle those struggles that define who we are, as well as our character. I was NEVER taught these things growing up and I have lived quite the life to say the least. I have four kids, each one of them has their own personalities, vision, desires etc. I teach each one of them in a different way, but try and get the same point across.

Probably the worst time in my life was when my oldest daughter Paris was abducted. I remember sitting in church and my dad tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to come with him. He took me outside and told me that I needed to remain calm, because people will be paying attention to how you react and handle the situation. He proceeded to tell me that a woman came into the kids classroom and casually took Paris, then took off with her. Needless to say, my heart sunk and I mentally freaked out. To make a long story short, my daughter ended up on the website Missing and Exploited Children, and there were posters of her all over the city. It took the US Marshalls to get involved, and I was without my daughter for 6 grueling months. Well, I finally got her back all safe and sound, and she was only 4 years old. She still has memories and flashbacks of that event, but she is handling it like a trooper.

I have had MANY life threats in my lifetime, starting when I was a kid and was shot in the back in Broderick West Sacramento. I have several different memories growing up that still haunt me to this day. I was myself almost abducted as I was walking to school one day, and that is the main reason why I am so protective over my children, because life threats can happen in the blink of an eye. Those memories never go away. Sometimes they lay dormant and you forget about them, but then something triggers you, and the flood of memories comes rushing in. It can throw you into a mental whirlwind that you feel that you can't get out of, and then mentally you back yourself into the dark caverns of your mind amongst all of the other bile that has been dormant for years. Those dark memories are the only thing keeping you company, and soon enough, you feel a sad comfort from those memories.

The most recent life threat that happened to me was just two days ago when I was informed that someone that I have known since November 6th of 2024 had verbally made a threat against my life, threatening to not only kill me, but also another person, if a "certain event" continued, due to their unhinged paranoia. Once I heard the threat of possible death visiting me, I immediately thought of my kids being in harms way as well, because this individual knew personal information about me and my whereabouts. So, I went into a fight or flight realm, and took the necessary action to not only protect myself, but my kids as well. With all of the needless violence that is happening in our society, you need to take a death threat VERY seriously. When it comes to the mental stability of other people, especially people that you may know, but don't know all that well, you CAN'T be too careful, PERIOD!

After I heard about the initial plat to end my life, my mind went into a whirlwind, and it was quite tough to navigate the rest of the evening. When my kids overheard me discussing the issue with someone, they were basically freaking out because someone wanted to kill their daddy. I then had to put my mental state of being on the back burner and focus on my kids mental well being. I spent the remainder of the evening consoling them until they fell asleep, and then I started too formulate a game plan. I ended up finally falling asleep close to 2am, and then unfortunately had terrible dreams about how this person may try and kill me. I only slept until 5:30am, then got up and tried to navigate my day. Although it was a hard day to get through, I had the comfort and love from my kids to help keep me grounded.

So, here we are.....face to face with another life threat. It's time to be on high alert when I leave my house, and yes my head will be on a swivel, BUT, I have to practice what I preach to my kids and try to hone what I have learned in life so that I can not only make it through each day, but to make it through minute by minute. I won't lie to you though, it's a mental struggle, but these are the things that if you can get through, I promise you that you will be stronger for it. I guess that age old saying is quite true, "what ever doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

So my friends......if I am not in fact killed by this person, it will just add one more layer to my life experiences, and I hope to be a better and stronger person from going through this.