You Just Never Know....

Death is a challenge.
It tells us not to waste time...it tells us to
tell each other right now that we love each other.
~ Leo Buscaglia

Tonight the jury begins deliberations in the Candace Derksen trial. They may even reach a decision in the next few hours. Her parents were on the news tonight talking about how healing, but how very raw, sitting through the testimony has been. Much rests on little evidence. Who knows how will it turn out for everyone?

For me, the event has sparked emotions that have surprised me. Not many people know this but when I was in elementary school I was almost abducted. I remember some of the details as clear as it was yesterday instead of three decades ago. I was heading to my patrol corner. I had arrived late from lunch break and so made a simple decision that had the capacity to change everything. Instead of stopping at the school and walking with friends, I walked towards the busy intersection which I guarded. A man who would have been my father’s age pulled up in a car beside me and opened the passenger door. He needed directions to the store up the street. He must have called me over because I remember being close to his car and explaining that if he just looked he could see the store from where we were but he insisted I get in the car and show me. My intuition must have been quite strong because I stepped away from the car and saw my patrol buddies coming. I said that he should ask them just as he went to grab me. Staring at the oncoming group of patrols, he let me go, slammed his car door shut and sped off.

I buried the memory for a long time. Half a dozen years later, standing outside my friend’s brother’s car, he jokingly tried to grab me and pull me inside. I flipped out and the memory came back. I will never know what might have happened that sunny afternoon. Who knows what darkness lurked in that man’s heart? I am grateful that as always, my guardian angels worked double time and protected me. I do remember conversations with the principal and police, but I don’t think anything ever came of it. Was he successful in snatching another little girl? Did he hurt her like someone hurt Candace? This week I have been wondering what might have happened to me and how it might have changed me and the people who loved me.

I watch the Derksens move through this painful ordeal with still more grace and compassion than most people. I have heard Wilma speak and read her books. May God grant this family all they need for the journey that began so long ago. Pray for them.

Peace,

Suzanne