Lock your doors!

I woke up at 5 am this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. So, I grab my laptop and head out to the living room. There I was sitting on the couch when I hear someone come up the stairs to our apartment and hear him burp. This man then stumbles around our front porch (that is shared with our neighbors). I run back into the bedroom and tell Matt that there is a drunk guy walking around on our porch. As soon as I had told Matt, the doorbell rang, and then this guy started trying to get in our door. At this point, I got scared. I called 911 while Matt grabbed his baseball bat and headed out to look at what this guy was doing. Matt stayed in Emma's room and peeked through the doorway to watch this guy. The guy tried to get in for a while and then just stared through our window. That's when I began feeling sorry for the guy. We knew he was drunk and probably thought this was his home. Poor guy. Then the guy walks over to our neighbors door and apparently they didn't lock their door and he walked right into their apartment! We were freaking out at this point b/c here was this stranger in our neighbors apartment. Well, our neighbors obviously woke up and got the guy out of their apartment and back on our front porch. At this point, the cops showed up. Praise God! The cop talked to the man and told him that this was not his home and he needed to go home. Apparently this is not the first time the cops have dealt with this guy before. He has a mental illness and when he goes off his medication and drinks he loses all sense of where he is. The cop said that they have tried to get this guy in an "institution" but they won't take him because his mental illness is not severe enough. It's a sad case and I really feel for this guy. There is such a lack for help for those with mental illnesses in this city and it really breaks my heart. So, while I was scared this morning, I am in a way glad we had this experience to open my eyes to this issue.

But, remember to lock your doors!