A good day gone bad!

I'm still on an adreinaline rush while I sit down to compose my thoughts from today.

I'm trying to wind down my reeling mind to begin but can't find the right words.

Here we go...

I decided that I would volunteer at the Baca Center and help serve our elderly community. My day started at 9am when I walked in. I wash my hands, grab an apron, wad my hair up and shove it in a hair net. (all protocol for sanitation) I was immediately hurled into the whirlwind of all the activites. Cutting up turkey, slicing bread, you name it, it was being done. Before I knew it, it was noon. You'd think we were serving the Pope or the President because everyone was on point, dressed up, everything was so nicely arranged. Three lines were formed. Over 200 senior citizens were in attendance. It was a terrific turnout!! One by one, every man and woman were served quickly and efficiently. Althought I personally served maybe 80-100 people, I knew none of them, but their smiles will be forever etched into my heart's memory. The only thing I dislike about volunteering at the Baca Center is that when you get to know some of people you see regularly, its really hard to hear that their time has come. Its the hardest part of it. I was so happy and so thankful to have been able to serve the community the amazing feast for Thanksgiving. Alot of the residents do not have families to spend the holidays with so for them, the Baca Center is their family. Its a really neat way to give back and I enjoyed every moment with them this morning. I finished my time there around 1:30pm and headed home.

On my way home, I stopped at our manager's office to drop off a few keys from the previous week that we did work on. Only to find we had a list of stuff for other properties that needed addressing. *sigh* It never ends. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful and don't mind, but sometimes its nice to have a week break. Ha.. no such luck today!!!

Wow... I'm still in disbelief thinking about what took place this evening...

So we stop at property #1 to remove the refrigerator. Success!!

We head to property #2 to install the refrigerator we got from property #1, FAIL!!!

I call our mgr, its a no go, doesn't fit. He informs me he has another property that needs a fridge, so we load the fridge and head to property #3.

We get to property #3, unload the fridge. Keep in mind, we have no one to watch Hayden so he is tagging along, as always. We get the fridge into the property, WTH.... is this really happening?? Yep, you guessed it, doesn't fit! FAIL!!!!!

So I call our manager, obviously pissed at the world, Hayden's screaming in my arms, I can barely make out the address he wants us to take this retarded refrigerator to so I tell him to txt it to me and we'll take care of it.

We get the address, loadup this ever so stubborn refrigerator and goto property #4. Before we unload it, I told Jon to go inside and measure the property. Well this would pose as the only problem at this property. Each property has a lockbox with a special code that unlocks it for the key to unlock the property. We put in the code to get the key and unlock the property. Everything unlocks like it should. But the door won't open. The door was locked from the inside. (It was a deadbolt that doesn't have a key and just locks from the inside for security) Well that was red flag #1! Keep in mind this is a vacant property and there is NO electricity and its already dark outside. The street is dark, there is no neighborhood lights. And its in the ghetto. FML!! So Jon goes into the backyard to see if he can unlock the backdoor. Same problem. He notices the window over the kitchen sink is slightly open. Red flag #2!! So he thinks nothing of it and crawls in the window to open the property. He unlocked the front door and told me okay lets load this fridge. I immediately stop him and tell him that we're calling the cops to have them clear the property. We later find out that this property has been vandalized before. So we call Austin Police Department and they dispatch an officer to the property. He shows up within 4-5 minutes. Thankfully! My heart was racing. This whole time, Hayden is in our truck, doors locked with me. The officer calls for backup. Another patrol car shows up within 5 more minutes. They enter the building with guns drawn, flashlights, shouting "Austin PD!!!" They search the entire property, bedrooms, bathrooms, closests, upstairs, downstairs. As they were about to walk out of the property, putting their guns back in their holsters, one officer looks up and spots the attic, they draw their guns again, pulling down the attic stairs, shouting "AUSTIN PD.... ANYONE THERE?!?!?!" Surely I thought they were going to be removing someone in handcuffs. But no one was there. What's scary about it all is that there was a blanket and pillow up in the upstairs bedroom, some crackhead probably got in there and that was his or her safe haven when they needed it. SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So the officers latched all the windows for Jon and secured the property. They left, Jon and I got the fridge down off the truck and installed it. But boy was my ass in a hurry to get out of there!!!!!

I'm glad that today is over and I'm glad to be home safe and sound.

On the way home, Jon and I talked about us having a cell phone on us at all times, especially when entering a property, vacant or not!

God was definately good to us today!!!