day two

Monday morning went well we delivered our frozen meatballs in lakeland and orlando for the fair peoole of orlando and the bay area.  When we finished our dlivery in Orlando, we decided to stop at publix and pick up a fried chicken dinner ((oohh yeaahh)) for our lunch.  I called my mom and let her know where we would be so she could say bye to the kids.  Now when you see a big rig parked on the side of the road in front of a shopping center, its not because they are trying to irritate you, orcause an accident, its because they don't make parking lots big enough for rigs like ours.

So we parked on the side of the busy road after we got our food and said our goodbyes to my mom, she returned to her car to eat her sandwich before returning to work.  We also stayed parked a few minutes longer to eat our lunch as well.  None of us recall seeing the two cars with limo tent pulling up next to my moms crown victoria, neither did we notice the five other cars that appeared as if from nowhere.  But it was impossible not to notice the ten or twelve men who jumped out of said vehicles with ninja masks on and loaded guns drawn.

A few minutes into the action one of the masked officers knocked on my mothers window.  They exchanged a few words and I saw her meekly hold up her sandwich in explanation.  

At this point a brief description of my mother is probably necessary.  If you looked up sunday school teacher in the dictionary, you would probably see my mother's picture next to the definition. a she is a Sunday  school teacher, 

Not a minute later my cell phone rang "are you watching this?" my mother asks in a strangely excited voice.

"yes, we are, are you  OK?" I asked her.

"yes I'm fine, they said I could leave in a few minutes"  she repllied a little more calmly.

Well I knew a few minutes would probably be an hour.  After pulling a male and female suspect out of their respective cars the officers all returned to their vehicles andquietly non-cholanly drove away.  That was it, no sirens or tv cameras just a grou of police officers doing their job.  

The thing that touched me the most about this event is that here is a black woman caught in the middle of what appeared to be drug activity and no assumptions were made just because of her race.  She wasn't questioned interrogated or hassled.  This in a city not more than twenty years ago didn't have a single black resident, and discouraged blacks from being in their town after dark.

Change is a process, and each one of us is a step in that process.