Adventures at Barnes & Noble...

So last night after meeting my mother and her group for dinner, I thought I would spend the evening looking at books at Barnes & Noble. My friend Pam (A.K.A. "Spammie"), turned me on to an astrology book. As I'm reaching for the astrology book, this guy looks at me and says, "You believe in that stuff"? I said, "Why, what do you believe in"? He seemed taken back by it. I laughed and thought of my friend Justine who teases me about my curiosity of astrology and how it relates to our core ways of being.

Anyway, this guy starts telling me his life story and in the middle of it all, my cell phone rings and it's JUSTINE! I panicked. I thought, "Oh, this is the call, she's going to have the baby". It ended up being Forrest who said, "I created the possibility of getting a deer today". I laughed at him. He and Justine both know I'm down in Boston visiting while my mother is doing the Landmark Forum. One of the things you get out of the Forum is "creating the possibility".....of something. So, to be a "f....ker, he calls up to tell me that he created that possibility instead of sitting on his ass all day. I laughed and told him he was a shit. The ENTIRE time I'm talking to him and Justine, the guy that I was talking to is standing there listening. I get off the phone and continue my conversation with him. He then remarked about me living in Maine and who was Justine....(RED FLAG'S COMING UP). He asked how old I was, continued to go on about all the money he has etc.

To try to make a really LONG story short, Matt said something about women not being stronger then men and that sometimes it gets them in precarious situations. I told him that I was not concerned, that I thought with the defense training I had done, that I could take him down. That's when he challenged me by telling me his role in the navy and how he went up behind another female friend of his that tried to challenge his strength and he grabbed her from behind and said, "Now what are you going to do". He tried to laugh about it....that he was "playing" with her. It didn't sit well with me. The red flags were already on high alert for me and that just sent me into "fight or flight". I explained that I was intentional about finding information and that he needed to be on his way. When he left the isle, I pretended to sit on the floor like I was searching for a book. I grabbed the books I had and ducked through a few more isles and hid. I was hoping by the time I got done looking through one book, he would be gone. WRONG! I saw him back at the same isle I was in. So I ducked down and made it to the back of the book store.

At closing time, I made my purchase and then waited by the door for someone who was heading to their car so that I would not be in the parking lot alone!! I made it to my car and I looked around the parking lot like a paranoid woman being stalked. I decided that if he was in the parking lot watching me from his car, I had better not head back to my hotel room. So I got on the highway and headed to the center to pick up my mother....knowing I would be early. Anything was better than being stalked!

The funny thing about my whole story that I got....is that it's just a story. I have no idea if that man was just lonely, if he was trying to come on to me, if he was a serial killer. He could be all three of those things and I will never know. Everything else, is completely made up in my mind....that when I'm in the city...."ALL MEN ARE DANGEROUS"! So, I listened to him through that "filter"...."he's dangerous". Listening to him that way, I gathered lots of "evidence" that he was dangerous. I laughed this morning as I looked back and realized that I was in that book store for TWO HOURS waiting to get out and not be seen by him.

The one thing I DO know, is that I'm glad to be breating air today and enjoying life! :-)