I now have an enemy in the neighborhood. Forever.

I saw an Instagram post recently that said, "A girl in fourth grade once called me a B**** and made me cry. Recently, on my college break, I mentioned to my mom that I was meeting this girl for lunch. 'You're having lunch with HER?' my mom replied. 'I don't like her. Don't tell her hello from me.'"

Rarely has a post resonated with me more fully. I am exactly that mama bear! Seriously, don't mess with my kids. 

But the other day, someone did. Badly. And, fair warning, my claws are out.

Shulamith teaches a livestream broadcast class on Thursday evenings. She was upstairs teaching her class, and her kids were outside playing. Swen accidentally left the gate to the backyard unlatched, and their 90-pound Aussie-Shepherd/Poodle escaped. His name is Woof, and let me tell you about him. Woofie is a very nice dog. He's kind, gentle, and protective of the people he loves: his family and close friends. But he's not a fan of other dogs. He tolerates Waffles because they grew up together, but other dogs? No! So Shulamith always, always keeps him on a short leash.

When he escaped Thursday, it happened that a man was passing by with his three little white dogs all on leashes. Woof attacked. Fortunately, the man was strong enough to kick Woof in the face, so no harm was done to his little dogs. No harm was done to anyone. 

And that should have been the end of it. 

Instead, the man proceeded to scream obscenities at the kids, enough that Swen ran upstairs and announced, "Mom, you said only to interrupt your class for an emergency; well, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!" Shulamith excused herself from the broadcast and ran downstairs to find this man still screaming about the incident. She immediately apologized, asking repeatedly if the guy's dogs were okay. A neighbor from eight houses down the street was also there, kindly making sure the kids were alright, but when he saw Shulamith come out, he left, assuming the two adults could handle their business without his interference. 

But this guy was not an adult. At least not emotionally (he is in his mid-20s). When he saw Shulamith, he shifted his abusive language from the situation to her, personally, calling her every foul name you can imagine. He even attacked her religion saying, "Oh, I can see by your clothing that you're one of those awesome Mormons. Great!" The screaming and swearing went on so long and was so loud that the neighbor who had been there earlier heard it all the way from inside his house and came back to make sure everything was okay. Kennedy was so scared that she ran inside crying and called her dad: "A man is screaming and screaming at Mom; I'm afraid he's gonna hurt her!"

At some point, Shulamith texted me what was happening, and asked if I could come over and finish teaching her online class. "Uh, I'm still with Heidi, and my hair is in foils, processing." She'd forgotten about my hair appointment. I felt so helpless! I couldn't leave with my hair in foils, so I had to sit there and visualize this man screaming at Shulamith and scaring her children, and I could do nothing at all to help. The best text message ever came about 20 minutes later: "Matt's home."

Relief flooded my body!! One of the best characteristics of people who enjoy awkward, uncomfortable situations is that they have the amazing ability to stay calm under pressure. And that is a super strength of Matt's. Before he arrived home, the guy had escalated to the point that he called 911 to report Shulamith because she "wouldn't cooperate." 

"911, What's your emergency?

"A dog attacked my dogs."

"Is anyone hurt?"

"No."

"Then, again, what's your emergency?"

"The dog's owner wouldn't give me her dog's shot records. She wouldn't cooperate." (Shulamith had told the guy Woof is fully vaccinated, but she wasn't sure exactly where the records were; she would need to look for them.)

"Is anyone in danger?"

"No."

"So what's your emergency?"

"She isn't apologizing sincerely enough."

"Uh, okay. I'll dispatch an officer when one has time."

By now this had been going on for over an hour, and the guy was still out of control, but Matt was there to respond calmly. "I understand that you're heated, but can we calm down and talk about this?" None of that worked very well until the police officer finally arrived and guess what? The guy had a sudden personally transformation, quit screaming, and behaved respectfully.

The officer took statements from everyone: Shulamith, Matt, the neighbor, and the formerly-screaming guy. In the end, the officer decided the guy was guilty of disorderly conduct, and later that evening, went to his house and issued him a citation. So really, turns out the guy called the police on himself! Karma?

Either way, I now have an enemy in the neighborhood. Forever.

(Note: As we've reflected on this the past few days, we realize that the incident had nothing to do with Shulamith, Woof, or the guy's little dogs. There are so many triggers that could be at the root of it: past trauma, mental illness, substance abuse? We'll likely never know. But we're trying to extend grace best we can. Shulamith is succeeding better than me. No surprise.) 

The worst part of all was seeing my kids so sad!

They say a mother is only ever as happy as her saddest child. 

It's true.

So as heartsick as I felt Tuesday night, the worst part of all was seeing my kids so sad. We all had so much hope. Eight years ago, when Donald J. Trump won the presidency the first time, I wrote this. I didn't like him. He had shown no decency; he had earned no respect. I had listened to his spiteful, venomous rhetoric throughout the campaign, his hatred toward our Muslim sisters and brothers and our hard-working Mexican immigrants; his excessive greed, his p***y-grabbing, outright distain for women. 

Still, at that point I didn't know what he was truly capable of. 

We..... didn't know. 

Now, we know. 

We watched as he stole one SCOTUS nominee from President Obama, winding up with three in total, who then turned the clock back 50 years on women's rights, freedom, and healthcare. We watched as he called those of us who disagree with his policies "the enemy from within," seeking to further divide an already polarized nation. We watched as he separated children from their families at our southern border, while trying to block all Muslims from entering the country. He is a 78-year-old convicted felon who was found liable for sexual assault! He refused to leave office peacefully when he lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, fueling a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol in order to stop the electoral vote-counting. He is currently under indictment on several different counts. 

And he told us during his recent campaign that he would be a "dictator" on Day 1. 

Now, we know. 

Now, we've elected him to a second term of office. 

And now, we have no excuse.

Be clear. Dictatorial tyranny is not just something we hear about in countries far away; the United States is not immune. Trump told us what he'll do. If we deliver this man a full trifecta, he's gonna do whatever he pleases, without constraint. Pray hard we don't lose the House. 

My family has been in varying stages of grief the past three days, fear for what lies ahead but also regret for what we gave up. We had such a good, good alternative. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz ran a fabulous campaign. Unlike their opponents, they sought to strengthen and unify people, to lift the discouraged, to hear the unheard, and to gather the isolated. I'm confident they would have made a wonderful President and Vice President, and we would have felt the impact of their strong, positive leadership for generations. 

Thank you, Kamala and Tim. I will never forget you. I will never forget the spirit of your campaign or how it made me feel inside. In the final days, Tim Walz asked supporters to consider a conversation they might have decades from now, when someone asks them what they did in the 2024 election to ensure an outcome that preserved democracy and promised hope, love, and joy. And our answer would be, "Every damn thing we could!"

Well that's what you did, Kamala and Tim! You ran relentlessly. You never stopped fighting. You never stopped reaching out. You never gave up on the core values you believe in. And though in the end, it wasn't enough, though in the end the American people preferred a rapist and convicted felon whose presence brings only anger, fear, and sadness, please know this....

You did every damn thing you could.