Thankful

This has been quite the week:
-My personal email was hacked,
-I sprained my ankle (I don't think I mentioned this...FYI: don't try to have Michael Jackson dance-offs with small Asian men while wearing 4 inch heels),
-and I was robbed at gunpoint Friday night.

Well... this weekend did not go according to plan.

Friday night, while in DC my girl friends and I were mugged at gunpoint by two men. I remember thinking when I saw him grab my friend Nikki, this can't be real life. It all happened so fast. He grabbed her, put a gun to her side and told her to give him her purse. Once she handed the purse over, he ran towards me. My first reaction was "No" and tried to turn away. When I turned back around, there was a gun in my face and the guy was yelling that he would shoot me. Needless to say, I handed over my bag. Once the men had all of our belongings, he pointed the gun at us and told us to walk back up the hill. We did as he told, but managed to turn around to see him jump in a car and speed away.
Luckily, Megan had her cell phone in her hand when this all took place and it was small enough for the two men not to notice. We quickly phoned 911 and the cops were there in less than 2 minutes.

I went into shock. I couldn't cry and could barely speak or stand. How could this happen? What actually did happen? Everything was gone.  All the cash I had (granted, only 2 dollars), my credit cards, my check card, my checks, sunglasses, pass to get into work, cell phone, and car keys. Everything.

Once we got back to Megan's house, I laid on her bed and just started to shake. I couldn't stop. My body completely took over. We canceled all of our cards and took care of as much as we could at 3am. Eventually we all fell asleep, but Megan and I were up at 7:30. As much as you just want to stay in bed and cry, we had too much to take care of to stay still.

You know, when I turned around and saw a gun in my face I remember just thinking to myself "Okay Marit, this is how you're going to go..and its okay." I braced myself for a shot, but luckily, it never came and luckily, all my friends and I were able to walk away from this.

 I am so thankful to be alive, but I'm also thankful to have such wonderful people surrounding me. I want to take the time to use this as a way to say thank you to them.

Nikki, Sarah, Megan- Thank you for being there in a time of need. You all have been my best friends for  almost 8 years and I am thankful to know each one of you.We all experienced something terrible, but I believe this will only make our friendship stronger. I'm so incredibly thankful to call you my friends.

A- Thank you for being the most wonderful person I have ever met. Thank you for being such a strong, loving, considerate boyfriend. Words can not even describe how much I appreciate everything you did and continue to do for me. I truly am the luckiest girl in the world to have you by my side every day.

Mom- Thank you for making me smile when I was feeling down. You told me that on Friday night, you said a prayer to keep all your kids safe. I fully believe in the power of prayer and believe that you might have been the reason why we all walked away without a scratch.

Holly- Thank you for dropping everything and coming to see me. Having you there made me feel so loved and I just want you to know how much I love and appreciate you.

Jerri Ann- Thank you for being you. Your sense of humor and loving attitude really helped cheer me up. I so look forward to these next 2 months I get to spend with you.

I also want to say thank you to all of our friends who came to our party on Sunday. Being around such wonderful people helped lift my spirits and was exactly what I needed after an experience like that.

I know it will take some time to get over an incident like this, but with time - all things heal. I have a lot to be thankful for...but mostly, I'm thankful for this week to be over.

Onwards and upwards, right?

Till next time-
M