Stranger Danger for the Psycho Mom

So, Gentle Reader, you should know that being pregnant makes me even more of a freak than I normally perceive myself. And here's why:

I am not a violent person. I genuinely try to follow the golden rule and adhere to a "Kindness begins with me" mentality. But in this day and age, as a mother, I am a protectoress. What I am willing to endure is nothing compared to what I am willing to do if someone threatens my children. Add to that when I am pregnant, I seriously start thinking of people doing all sorts of nefarious things to my family and I, without a moment of hesitation, am very willing to literally gouge their eyes out and try to break their neck (or in any other way, inflict painful physical harm to them) in retribution for invading my children's space. Ugh.

Further, I will often wake up at night/early morning and be up for the rest of the night while my mind plays the cruel game of "Worst Case Scenario." For example, J and I are going on a getaway before the new baby comes, and the other night, I woke up around 4 a.m. and could not get back to bed because I started fretting that while I am gone, E would accept candy from a stranger and vanish. This is NOT what I want to happen nor do I expect it to happen, but this highly unlikely scenario kept me up for the rest of the morning and upset me so much that I went in and laid down by E in her bed. Later that morning, I went to Amazon.com to look for some good books to buy about Stranger Danger and safety and such.

And then I thought, but I am a LIBRARIAN! What am I doing spending money on books that may or may not be what I want? So, instead I requested the books I wanted from my local library (thus saving a ton of money) and I got the first two today, just in time for tonight's F.H.E. I will let you know how they are received.

The moral of the story is this: even though this started out as a completely irrational fear of my hormonal mind, knowledge is power regardless of how old you are. It's a good way for me to get my kids to realize that in today's world, you just have to be careful.