You Know This - Scariest Night of my Life

Having grown up in Riverside, I get teased on a pretty regular basis about being ghetto and "bro"ish. There are a lot of stereotypes from Riverside that are true, but for the most part, they are all just embellished by the snobs of Orange County. I'm not trying to knock either side, being that my roots are strong in Riverside but I have adapted easily into the OC lifestyle.

Anyway, all this to say, Riverside has a pretty bad rap here in Orange County. But I would like to point out a few things about the places I have lived...

Riverside (1st 18 years of my life)

* The scariest thing that ever happened was when my mom left the self-cleaning oven on and filled the house with smoke, causing the fire alarm to go off.

Waco, Texas (4 years)

* Natalie thought someone had messed with her laundry while we were upstairs. I searched around the apartment with a butcher knife, but was unable to find the suspect. Turns out, she was drying her shoes and it kicked the door open.

Mission Viejo (Top 5 safest cities in America)

* A man was killed in an apartment fire in the next building over.

* Two people were shot at a party on the other side of the complex.

Foothill Ranch (Sleep-town of South Orange County)

* A big man came to my door around 7pm trying to sell me a subscription to the newspaper. I didn't respond, but instead watched him through the peephole. Apparently he could see my eye cause he started shouting at me through the door.

Rancho Santa Margarita (Also in the top 5 safest cities in America)

* Our neighbor had a house arrest anklet on.

* Another neighbor girl was declared missing after last being seen riding on the back of a man's motorcycle out of our complex. It made the news.

Irvine 

* I wasn't home enough for anything super major to happen while living there. But there were constantly people shouting at night and the train passed by several times a night. Also, I'm pretty sure our neighbors were cooking body parts, cause the smells that came through the wall were horrendous!

As of yesterday, I am back in RSM. And last night I had the scariest night of my life. Let me preface by saying that Katie is out of town at high school camp right now, so I am home alone.

My bed is up against a sliding glass door, so last night I decided to sleep with the door open and the screen door locked. At 3:40am I woke up to a man trying to open the screen. I shot up and shouted (in my deepest man-voice), "What's going on?!" Then proceeded to slam the door shut, lock it, and pull the blinds closed. The man then said, "I'm sorry, I thought this was my friend's house." and wandered across the yard and back over the wall. So, I have not slept in 20 hours and am terrified to go to bed right now.

In this moment, I miss the safety of living in Riverside!