Being Watched...

Do you ever get that feeling like you're being watched? You know how it is, you're sitting there eating oatmeal and suddenly you get chills up and down your spine. It's in the middle of the day so you feel kind of foolish, but you go and turn on all the lights anyway and you make sure to bang all the doors as you go by.

So I know we've all done that, but have you ever had the feeling like you're being watched while you're channel surfing and than all of a sudden you turn to Discovery Channel and you see images of yourself watching discovery channel, remote in hand?

Well that doesn't compare to being alone in your room in the middle of the night and hearing scratching noises at your bedroom window. You know it's nothing so finally you get brave enough to turn off the lights and open the blinds, and then you yell out a scream because there's a big guy standing outside your window.

That last one actually happened to me when I was in high school (one of my older sister's friends trying to be funny).

When my family lived in Denver, CO (actually Littleton, but close enough), my Dad was away on business and my Mom was home with the four kids (me at age 1 and the older ones ). She was in the house and it was the evening when she saw the door knob start to turn. I think she had just locked the deadbolt or she hurried and locked the deadbolt or something. This happened a couple more times and I think she called the neighbor to come check on her. Anyway, the neighbor comes over and knocks on the door and explains to Mom that a big dog is at the door tryig to turn the knob. Almost as soon as the neighbor came, a lady showed up and apologized for her dog. My Mom, very relieved at the time, explained how terrified she had been because she was all alone with the kids with Dad out on business.

After the lady and Dog left, my Mom got to thinking about how strange it is for this dog to be testing her door, and suddenly when somebody else shows up to check it out, the dog's owner mysteriously appears. My Mom spent that night with a kitchen knife under the bed (though I don't know what she would have done with it).

Later in life, after we'd moved to Texas, we used to always stop by a friends house in Denver on our summer vacation trips to see family in Idaho and Utah (we even went to the zoo once). Denver is also where I learned how to walk and we found a black widow spider in our basement.

Welcome to Denver, Hicks Clan.