I've Never Been So Scared In My Life.

I've never been so scared in my life.

Reed was working until 8 tonight, covering for another person so Michelle and I decided to take a stroll on the Provo trail at the mouth of Provo canyon. We'd started back up at the gym together recently, but hadn't done hiking or running together since last summer. I haven't done it at all since before I got pregnant. We thought we'd take up the stroller and go for a nice walk since we couldn't hit the gym with Carson.

We started on our walk and about a half mile in, Carson was hungry. We sat down on a bench and fed him for a while and then put him back in the car seat and stroller to keep going. Soon a man with a hood on started gaining on us. I kept turning around to look at him so that he knew I knew he was there. I figured I was probably being paranoid, judging someone I saw just because they had their hood on. It was cold, after all. He passed us and kept walking up the trail and we soon forgot about him. We weren't in a big hurry, just chatting as we walked, and Carson had fallen back asleep by then. After we had walked a bit some guys started yelling toward us, saying "Lady! Hey! Lady!"

I turned around and figured I must have dropped something, but that wasn't the case. They pointed out the man who had passed us earlier and told us he looked sketchy, and we should watch out for him. I told them he had already passed us, and they said "well maybe you're okay, but he looks sketchy."

When I looked up to see him I noticed he had stopped and was watching us. I turned to Michelle and asked her if we should just turn around. We did, and soon he did too. At this point I started getting really worried. We were definitely over a mile from the car, and my legs were already tired from wearing stilettos all day. Go figure.

We decided to run as much as our bodies would let us so that we could keep him a further distance back. Keep in mind, I am NOT in running shape anymore! So here my mind is trying to do the flight in fight or flight, but my body is like "meh- can't do it." We would get him at a good distance, I thought... and then within a minute he was back to where he was before. He must have been running when we would turn a corner and couldn't see him. Nothing else would make sense.

At this point I was praying all the way down the trail. I had never been so scared for something that I wasn't sure was even a thing. I soon devised a plan in my head, and so did Michelle. Our plans were similar, yet opposite. She later told me that her plan was to "sacrifice herself so that Carson and I could get away." My thought was- I'm a lot stronger than Michelle. She should take the baby, get to safety, and I will fight this man off. I was going through all the things I had learned in Young Women's self defense activity nights, things I had learned in school... everything.

I don't know that I have ever felt like I wanted to sacrifice myself for someone else. I guess adulting, and having a baby changes you.

Meanwhile, as we were getting closer to the bottom, I felt so strongly that I needed to get Reed on the phone. I called him, put him on speaker, and the first thing I muttered as I was completely out of breath was "DON'T HANG UP!" he thought I was calling to tell him I was throwing up. hahaha! We took our turnoff to the parking lot. It requires you to go over a bridge, and through a pavilion to get to where the car was parked. I was praying we were just paranoid and he wasn't behind us. But he was. And he was closer than he had been the whole time. Michelle put Carson in the car, keeping Reed on the phone, and I frantically tried to fold up the stroller to get it in the car.

The stroller only fits in the trunk when put in a particular way. I was slamming it against the car, trying to force it in the trunk, as the man stepped off the sidewalk and toward me at the trunk. Michelle kept talking loudly, Carson was in the closed car, and all I could think was "This is it. I really hope Michelle can get my baby to safety." The man came within a foot of me as I breathed heavily, still slamming the stroller against the trunk, and stared at him. I almost ripped it out and chucked it to just get in the car and go.

Miraculously the man walked past me. He walked past, and back onto the sidewalk, and then walked into a bathroom about 100 feet away. I couldn't believe it. We were fine. I jumped in the car, locked it, and flew out of there.

I don't know if that man was trying to freak us out, or if he really wanted to hurt us. I have a feeling it was the second one, because of my strong feelings to get Reed on the line. I am so incredibly grateful that we are all safe! The whole thing was awful. I came home and sat on the couch holding tightly to Carson, just crying from fear, and also because I felt so incredibly blessed tonight. I honestly didn't think I'd have the opportunity to hold my husband or my baby again. I'm also grateful that Michelle is home safe with her husband now too.

 Carson, of course, slept the whole entire time.