Oops...I forgot to tell you...

Barbara Cohen was in yesterday and asked about my issue with the "man" who tried to come through my window and door at home. I've been to court on this issue and want to report what happened. First I got a letter from his attorney telling me he was sorry and would it be alright if we agreed to his doing community service. I never bothered to answer that letter and chose to confront him in court. I arrived at the courthouse and found myself walking off the parking lot with who I felt must be "the guy" although if I had to swear it was him I couldn't have done it. After all, this guy came in a suit and a tie and I couldn't see his arms to see "tats"and since he didn't have on his black t-shirt with a white skull...well, who knows who it was. But since he, his attorney and I were the only ones in the foyer waiting for the court to open, he attorney asked if I was Mrs. Rutka so then I knew. His client then said how sorry he was and how he was drunk at the time and was confused (you think?)...yadda yadda yadda and then showed me his deployment papers for Iraq. Actually though he did seem remorseful and well, haven't we all had a little too much to drink. So I informed him that what I really wanted was an apology, to which the attorney said, "Well I thought I said that in my letter to you." I looked at this jackass and said, "I didn't want an apology from you, I wanted it from the person trying to break into my house at 2:00 in the morning." I also wanted reimbursement for the damages. "The guy" brought money with him in anticipation I guess, so after some discussion with him grovelling at my feet for a while I decided to let him off with community service. After all, Iraq was calling. So the end result was...he got community service and paid for damages. I went home a better person. On a different note, my Michael spent the night with me last night (always exhausting with a 9 year old directing activities) and we decided to walk to work this morning and stop by the Alaska Stand for a breakfast sandwich. Since they weren't open yet, we sat on the benches to wait and heard a mother screaming for Stephen. Come to find out...this idiot left her 4 year old son outside the comfort station on 9th street...but she said "I told him not to move"...and of course he did. So she comes out of the bathrooms to find Stephen missing. Honestly some people need mothering lessons. Anyway, the people on the boardwalk were unbelievably helpful with bikers and just walkers fanning out to search. A few minutes later a gentlemen came by on his bike, heard what had happened and said to the woman, "a couple of women are holding him about 3 blocks from here until you are found." Good ending where it could have been disasterous. I guess what I wanted to say was God does look after children and idiots. Everyone should know without being told that a 4 year old cannot be left on the boardwalk by themselves. Having said that, when Mary was 2-3 she use to walk around in the area without us with her. This is her home, and although she couldn't talk, I felt she knew where she was. However, the police picked her up on 9th street twice and took her to the police headquarters and we got a call (not sure how they knew the first time who we were) and we had to go pick her up. I couldn't get the police to understand that she was in her home territory, they were getting madder by the minute. We finally had t-shirts printed with "I belong to the Lankford Hotel" on them and we put her in one every day before she took her little "walk". I'm thrilled to say she was never picked up by the police again....plus, I have to admit we kept a better eye on her. Like I said, God looks after children and idiots (and we fell into both categories there so we were doubly protected.) Have a great day...I couldn't get a picture of my Just Nan project because Michael and I were having a DS duel.