Craig, my hero

I'm not the best storyteller- at least not when writing.  I tend to ramble and have ginormous run-on sentences.  However, for me (for this sort of journal I keep) and for your reading pleasure (and to brag about how proud I am of my sweet man) I will tell you a little story that happened to Craig, Elliott and I (and the staff at Wahoo's) last week.  Brace yourselves, like I said before, I ramble and this is a bit of a long story.

It was the night before E's birthday so we asked him what he wanted to eat for dinner.  Out of the blue he says Wahoos- mind you- E doesn't particularly care for Wahoos.  Most of the kids around me are so over Wahoos it's predictable what they'll say if we merely suggest going there to eat.

E says "Wahoos", we say "Really" somewhat stunned and head to Wahoos.  E mentions that he'd rather go to a different location than we are going, when asked "why" he responds with "because it's cleaner".  Hum, we think and dismiss it and keep on going to the same location we'd planned in the first place.

We are about done eating our dinner when this large man (20 somethingish) comes in the front door very loudly talking and somewhat shouting at people all around.  We dismiss it a bit thinking he must be a customer they know well or something.  He proceeds to go around the whole restaurant very loudly shouting profanities (in my mind I'm thinking, just ignore him, he'll go away- just ignore what he's saying maybe Elliott can't hear it....) and then he approaches these guys in the corner and starts saying pretty crude things to them and starts to hug one of them- by now we know this isn't a Wahoos regular.  The guy pushes him off and the large man starts to walk away from them- coming our way.  I keep thinking- just ignore him, he won't bother you, don't even look at him....  Well, he walks almost past us and turns and grabs E's arm and comes down kind of on him (Craig said he kissed him on the cheek, I didn't know that until last night- ew.) and starts rambling and shouting stuff and really scaring Elliott and myself.  Craig stands up and confronts the guy and gets him away from E.  They have a few LOUD words and the guy kind of backs down and heads back toward the entrance.

About now, people (employees of Wahoos) are kind of shouting "someone call 911" so who calls 911 of all the people in the place?  Craig

While Craig is getting connected to the right police station the guy comes back into the room.  He again comes to our table and aggressively grabs both Elliott and I (puts one arm around each of us) and very annoyingly and hardly kisses my cheek- loudly rambling profanities and strange things.

Craig sets the phone down and comes to save us.  He grabs the guy and FINALLY some other guy steps in and helps Craig put the guys arm around his back and push him up against a table to get him under control.

Meanwhile, the Wahoos ladies are freaking out, I'm freaking out (when you can't breathe normally on your own and you have a cold and something like this happens- all hell breaks loose within)- so the ladies grab Elliott and run with him into the back room and are yelling at me to come and "get safe"- I'm watching in slow motion a bit- I'm worried to leave Craig with this nutjob of a man with hardly any help- yet I don't want to leave my poor Elliott alone in a back room worrying with a bunch of strangers.  Craig tells me to go so I go back into the back with Elliott.  The whole time we are back there all I can hear is this crazy guy yelling profanities.  Not very long after we hear sirens and the police have arrived.

Craig had to do a citizens arrest because none of the officers witnessed anything.  We were there for quite awhile while Craig gave his statement.  One man in the restaurant commented on how impressed he was with Craig and his ability to not "loose it" and one of the police officers commented on how impressed he was with Craig too and how this could have ended so badly.

I am proud of my Craig.  I guess you shouldn't mess with his peeps.  I've never seen him that angry and that under control.  He is always so calm, he never gets mad, he rarely raises his voice and he is always so easy to be around.  Elliott keeps saying "Dad was pretty mad huh?  With that guy messing with us....?"  We are so glad to have someone who loves us so much and keeps us safe. 

I'm pretty much over Wahoos- just like the kids.  I do LOVE the employees at Wahoos.  They took such good care of Elliott and I and were so kind to us.  There are good people everywhere- and there are those crazy people too.

We don't think the man meant any harm.  We do know he was out of control and needed help- there was absoltley no denying that- He was a BIG man- if he had wanted to hurt someone, he could have- and he could have done some real damage.  I think he just needed help.  It's very hard to explain that to Elliott who afterwards was doing what we all do after a situation- we think of what we would have done right?  E kept saying things like "I wish I'd used my karate" or "I wish I would have...."  He's a little brave champ and I'm proud of him for keeping his cool too.

Although I look around everywhere I go now for weird looking individuals that might come grab me or my child - I am grateful we were there.  It has made me appreciate Craig even more than I do and it has made me appreciate him for his calmness.  If we weren't there, it really could have gone badly for someone else and someone may have really been hurt- Craig saved the day and no one was hurt.  I'm glad it is over and everyone is safe.

But...next time Elliott suggests we go somewhere else to eat like that- I think I'll listen!

The End.  Hopefully.