Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.

     

       Bullying is typical. Some people don't have filters or they bully to get extra attention. I figure when Mason is older this is something I will have to deal with. I had a friend tell me her child was being bullied at school and she asked me what I would do. I told her I would do everything in my power to make it stop. I would go to the teacher, the principal, the parents and let them be aware of what is being said. This is something you would see from younger kids but that's not always the case.
      Mike and I had friends who we spent lots of time with, they played with our kids, held Mason several times, we welcomed them in our home also. I had a fall out with another friend and this couple decided to get involved. (I won't mention names bc I'm not blogging to throw them under the bus just to share my experience.) One night there was pounding on my door, Mike was sound asleep on the couch so I answered. There was our neighbor/old friend standing there. The second I opened my door he got in my face and started cussing me out. I wasn't fazed by his screaming I gave him a look like "dude your crazy" as he continued to yell not getting much of a reaction from me he said "Are you retarded?" I was still looking at him like he was wasting his time. Then he said " Are you retarded like your son Mason?"  My heart started pounding, I started shaking. Next thing I know I had a huge traffic light toy of Dylan's in my hand and I was seconds from swinging. My brain turned off and I wasn't thinking about the consequences of my actions I jumped into mother bear mode. He backed down off my porch quickly. I went from not caring to screaming at the top of my lungs. A neighbor came out and said she was going to call the cops if we didn't quiet down and I said "Go ahead and call the cops, save this guys life!"
      Mike heard all the screaming and woke up running outside. When the neighbor saw Mike coming up to us he back up into his yard. Mike grabbed my hand, didn't say anything because he had NO idea what was going on. At this point the neighbor wasn't saying anything I had plenty I wanted to get off my mind since that was said. He then apologized and said "I love your kids, I had fun playing with Mason." I said "You can forget that, you will never see him and I will NEVER forgive you!" I told him I was calling the police and I went in the house.
      I was so worked up I couldn't stop crying, I called my family to calm down. They were very upset and angry as well. They encouraged me calling the police. I was hesitant bc of course I picked up something with intentions of hitting him and he never threatened me with his words, just his actions. I let time go by but I couldn't let this slide. I called the police, they came to my house got the information they needed then went to our neighbors house. The police came back in and said "Do you remember what you grabbed and what you said when you grabbed this particular thing?" I said "If you are asking me if I threatened him hell yeah! After he said that about a defense less baby I couldn't control myself." The cop smirked. I said "You do what you gotta do but the thing he said about a special needs baby is NOT Acceptable!"
      There were no charges pressed just a warning to my neighbor and if they were to talk to me or come on my property he was going to be arrested for harassment. I don't have any jail time and I don't usually want to beat the crap out of a soldier who is trained to kill with his bare hands but I lost ALL control when he said that about my baby. I don't usually call the cops either but I wanted to make a point that this certain thing was unacceptable and I WILL not let it slide, even if I had to do jail time.
      When I was on the phone with my family, after I told Mike the whole story Mike went back outside to talk to our neighbor. He said "Did you (insert cuss word) call my son a retard?" The neighbor said "Im sorry about that I just wanted to piss of your wife." Maybe just Maybe he will leave my baby out of it next time. I won't let it slide!
      I was amazed that this was once a friend who we trusted around our kids that would do a low blow and get an innocent baby involved. Later that night I sobbed and sobbed! I replayed what he said over and over AND OVER in my head time and time again. I questioned if I should of gotten the police involved but that following morning when I went to Masons room and got his smiley face out of his crib, bringing him back in my room I held him tight and I knew I did the right thing. No he wasn't arrested but hopefully he learned that he shouldn't call an innocent child a retard!


                 Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.