Cereal:
Yuck. My cousin who just died had an 18 year old daughter, who has a boyfriend who is a Bad Sort. Apparently, when Bob died, so did their meal ticket. (He was on disability and they were living with him. Now she wants to have a baby to go on welfare. Yeah. Awesome.) My great-aunt has decided to change her locks because the girl has a key, and we don't doubt that Bad Sort boyfriend, now that he is banned from the house, will try to get in. He hung around the hospital while Bob was there, and saw us all going in and out, and I guess he started with my mother and aunts when they got to the hospital just after the death, were upset, and said they didn't want to see him. It's just all so
Cops.
Anyhoodle, the whole situation makes me a little nervous. I had the craxy idea that to get the women in the family into one of those simple little self-defense courses they have, I think at the hospital. I don't know how strenuous they are, but I'm wondering if a 70 year old woman could get anything from it. (Or if she could even take it.) She isn't particularly infirm, but while I don't expect her to be able to take a 23 year old man down, maybe she could get some tips? If I posed it as a fun family activity, she may buy it. Anyone have any experience with this kind of thing?
I guess that would be her safest bet. I was hoping for something like Eye Gouging 101, or Kicks to the Groin: How to Make Them Work For You.
It just makes me sad that there are boys who need to physically threaten dying people and the elderly to feel like men.
Somebody tell me I need to be sleeping right now.
Eddie, you should be sleeping. I should be sleeping too.
Lilty how awful. I'll be sending lots of safety~ma your way.
Lilty, what an awful, messed up situation. I'm so very sorry. Lots of ~ma headed towards your family.
YAY, Kristin! How exciting! Much ~ma headed your way as well.
Very exciting Kristin! Woo!
What a mess Lilty. How awful that they have to worry about safety during their time of grief.
Lilty, I have taken several self-defense courses, although it has been some years. There was a lot of emphasis being prepared to defend yourself and on simple techniques to hurt attackers so that you had time to run away and call for help. You could ask the instructor about whether the course is appropriate for older people, but I don't know of any reason why you can't make it a fun family outing. I think some self-defense training might be more effective than pepper spray, since this is a person who knows y'all and knows where you live. Under those circumstances, you'd have to have the pepper spray with you 24 hours a day. If you find him particularly creepy, you might want to make sure people have key-locking deadbolts on their doors and if he might have had access to keys, change the locks.
Yay, Kristin!
Thanks everyone!
Lilty, safety-ma to you, sweetie. How scary.
