Stranger Danger

I really enjoy it when my blog posts spark interaction between myself and my readers and it thrilled me last week that so many of you were willing to share which songs and films bring on the waterworks for yourselves. I listened to every recommended song and y’all are right, those were some tear jerkers! It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who can consistently cry any given time a particular film or song is on!

While I probably could have made my list of songs about a hundred long, I thought I should limit myself to just five and in doing so I neglected to list the one song that absolutely cripples me more than any other non-Céline one: Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven.

For those who do not know the story behind the song, Clapton wrote it about his four year old son who died after falling out the window of a New York City high-rise. Eric Clapton had little to nothing to do with his boy until just a few weeks before his sons death in the spring of 91′ and lyrics like, would you know my name if I saw you in Heaven? highlight just that. The song is about him being a poor father to his son and the fear that because he didn’t cherish their relationship here on Earth his child might not recognize him in Heaven. I can’t even type this without tears in my eyes and I find it awe-inspiring that someone could create such beautiful music from such incredible heartbreak.

I have a quick little story about that song and then we’ll dive into the one I really wanted to tell for this post.

Roughly a year or so ago my “Gorgeous” friend Lindsey and I were eating lunch at Crushed Red in Edwardsville and playing on the television was a breaking news story of yet another school shooting. Well, Lindsey and I had already finished eating, but I was just watching the heartbreaking story and finishing my Dr. Pepper when Tears in Heaven started playing unrelatedly. WE HAVE TO LEAVE RIGHT NOW! I remember telling Lindsey as I sprung up from my seat and dashed to the door. I then spent the whole way back to the car explaining to Lindsey why we suddenly had to leave and I was now crying. She didn’t know the song, but playing it for her in the car was probably not the experience she needed because I imagine it was difficult to connect with it over my mad sobs. The song is a masterpiece and everyone needs to know it. Make it the first thing you listen to after finishing this read.

NOW ENOUGH WITH THE CRYING! I shared this next story with my co-workers the other day and it had everyone laughing, so I thought I’d share this short little nugget with all of you. I have to thank my peers because they have really become my test market for which stories I will and will not be sharing in future posts!

I moved in my California home in May of 2014 and sometime near the end of summer, so let’s say about three – maybe four – months following my move-in, I was deep asleep as it was just past midnight on a random week night when I was abruptly jolted awake by loud bangs coming from the front door. Someone wasn’t knocking on it or trying to get in, they had already entered and whatever it was they were carrying inside they were doing so with great recklessness as it sounded like they were pounding it against everything in their path.

This was during a dark period of time where I didn’t have glasses, so when I took out my contacts for the day I was no longer in the business of seeing shit. My eyes are so ridiculously dry that I must wear daily contacts and when the day concludes those things hit the trash, so I would typically wear them right up till the time I went down to bed, always assuming I wouldn’t need them again till morning when I would always put a fresh pair in my eyes. Well, on this particular evening I could have benefitted from my vision, but I was so alarmed by what was happening downstairs that I thought there was no time to put new lenses in my eyes.

I tossed on my Polo Ralph Lauren robe, slid on my slippers, and threw open my bedroom door making a mad dash towards the stairwell. As I did so I could hear the voices of what sounded like a school yard of children followed by a ssshhhhhh! from what I could only assume was an adult. Still unsure of what was happening I cautiously approached the stairwell.

Well, as I began my descent downstairs, I could hear several young footsteps heading up in my direction. I hated that I couldn’t see shit, but I had to know what was happening inside my house.

As I reached the landing and made the turn to where I would now become visible to all those down in the main entry way I saw three young kids tip-toeing up the stairwell towards me and at the time I had no clue who they belonged to, but it only took a second for me to find out.

“STRANGER DANGER! STRANGER DANGER!”

Screamed a woman who was standing just in front of the door and with her yells the three children slammed their bodies up against the wall of the stairwell and I immediately quit walking, choosing instead to stand there in absolute disbelief at this bizarre as fuck moment.

Stranger Danger? I was in my own fucking house! Who the Hell was this woman!?! She was the stranger! It was really bothering me now that I couldn’t see anything but a blurry blob of a person that I could only assume was her walking over in my direction and three little people probably scared out of their minds standing up against the wall just opposite of me.

“Can I help you?” I inquired with the woman who was half way up the steps and now pulling the children down towards her.

“Oh hey, you must be Ben,” came a man’s voice after hearing the screen door open again.

“That would be me, yes,” I replied cautiously, but still remained standing at my spot on the landing as to not further escalate this already bizarre situation.

“I’m Joe, Mark’s brother,” the guy said as he walked up and shook my hand.

Communication was not always one of Mark, my California dad’s strong points, so them showing up in the middle of the night was a complete surprise to me. I remember Mark was out of town for work that evening, so to say I was a little caught off guard would be an understatement.

After our introduction the situation was diffused and I could then infer that the loud noises from earlier were from the three young boys bringing their own bags inside the house. I stayed up a little while longer and talked to Joe and his wife after they put the kids down to sleep, but never once did she apologize for calling me Stranger Danger, inside my own house nonetheless. Now here we are nearly five years later and I still feel entitled to an apology.

As always, THANK YOU ALL for reading! I hope I was able to bring you a smile at my expense! I’ll return again next week with more to share, but until then, I hope you all have THE BEST week ever!