Well, not really. Most of the smell and irritants in the air cleared up overnight.

Why, you ask? I did too. But I’ve decided on the message – I’ll fill you in:

Yesterday afternoon, it all started with the sound of a gunshot coming from somewhere in my neighborhood. My friend, my husband and I all looked at each other, thinking, “Really?” We convinced ourselves it was just car backfire, from a busy street out beyond the neighborhood.

Then came more. And more. And more. And more. At this point, we were trying to convince ourselves that some guy was doing serious work to his beat up jalopy, but not doing a very good job of it. After an hour, I considered calling the police. After two hours, everyone in the house and all of the dogs in the neighborhood were annoyed and on edge.

And then it came…

First the burning in my nostrils. Then my throat began to hurt and swell. And my eyes, yikes, my eyes! My friend ran outside, and the irritants were MUCH stronger, so we got everyone inside, shut all the windows and doors, hid in my bedroom in front of a fan, and I (finally) called 911.

To my surprise, they put me on hold. And then the operator came back on to inform me, nonchalantly, that the police department’s SWAT team was simply doing annual training – right next to my house. “Seriously?” I asked. “And no one felt like they needed to inform me? I have a young child, and can hear other children playing in the neighborhood!” No one let us know this would be going on. The police department said they do it every year, but I’ve been working from home here for almost five years, and have never experienced pepper spray and tear gas in my kitchen before. I would remember.

After many calls, complaints to the police department and the mayor’s office, a friendly sergeant came over last night to apologize. Apparently, there was a slight leak in the container they were using to shoot into (where they were doing hostage training?!), and this is completely routine. While I appreciate the apology, my husband and I can’t quite contain the feeling that something doesn’t feel right about it all. I don’t find pepper spray and tear gas leaking into a family neighborhood – where my child is playing in the backyard – completely routine. Did I mention that the shooting mysteriously stopped right after I called 911?

So what am I to learn from all of this?

This event seemed to knock me down for a minute. I mean, I was mad. I felt battered, physically irritated, and unable to think clearly, much less write my money post that I intended to have up last night. Today, I was still a bit stunned. I kept thinking that there must be some kind of message for me in all of this. I mean, I’ve had a string of sad, uncomfortable and unusual events happening in my life over the past few weeks, but this was by far the most bizarre. I kept wondering what I was missing – so I kept asking, and the only thing I keep hearing is PERSEVERANCE.

As thought about it, I realized how many distractions pop up all around us when we set out to do something meaningful – when we decide to make a leap and do something a bit out of the ordinary . This is just one more distraction, and one more obstacle that I can overcome.  I mean, here I am writing this post. Sure, I’m late for my own money post deadline, but I’ll get back to it. My family is safe – and I’m only coughing a little bit. ;-)

What do you think my message is?