Brave Heart Give-Away Question #6

Warning: This one is longer.  Do not feel compelled to match comment length to post unless this particularly fires your writing engines.  
No - this is not about the movie, or any reference to Mel Gibson.  I want to know about your courage.  I have SO MANY questions I want to try now, that I have two drafts going, and a bazillion others swirling about the noggin.  I am quite sure now I will be sad to have this Give-Away come to a close.  (Incidentally, I have another one I'm pondering.  I will save it for later, but it's going to be goooooooood.)
So here's my question:

Have you ever had a time in your life that you have had to be particularly brave?  Describe that time.


Not that I am She-Woman or anything, but when I thought about answering this question myself, several things came to mind that I could share - the act of parenting itself requires great bravery (parenting that is done well...it is hard), the time my son had the seizures last fall Stricken to Greater Faith, or the time I was met at my school after a field trip with my class by police and a crazed mother, thinking I had kidnapped her son (never wrote about that), or the time on my road trip that I awoke having stupidly fallen asleep with my car hatch open to find two men standing outside my vehicle in the middle of the night -Purpose.

I thought about my recent trip back in May to Chicago.  As is typical of me, I haven't gone back to finish writing about that, but I will post a short snippet here.  One of my friends, upon learning that I was going to Chicago - a place I'd never been, said, 'You're so brave.  I could never do that.'
For me, I could never NOT travel solo, but I recognize that there are elements to what I do that require bravery.  One such thing is venturing out in new locations (some times potentially dangerous locations) by yourself.

My Mama wasn't all too keen on the idea that I was going to 'a big city' by myself.  That's right - I am a grown woman with teen/near-adult children, and she still frets at my doing things like this.  I kind of understand - apparently my daughter has taken notes...she wants to do a beach trip like my Hammocks Beach one with a couple of her friends...and I was like, 'Ummm...let's talk about this later.  MUCH later.'

But I digress.  So my Mom and I talked every day/evening while I was there in Chicago and she loved that.  She was particularly fond of calling around, ooooooh, 8:00ish to see that I was tucked away, safe and sound behind my hotel door, chain across the frame, bolt in place, chair securely under the doorknob, in my pjs in front of tv.


I don't go to new places to hide away in my hotel/place of lodging to curl up and do what I could very well do at home.  I travel very differently than a lot of people.  I thrive on expeiences.  So when I go somewhere, I want to experience it in its wholeness.  Part of that is getting out to some of the more 'local' places.  


So one such night she called 'to say hey' (i.e. make sure I was bolted behind closed doors) and she asked what I was doing.


Me:  'I'm headed over to this cool restaurant I read about where they have sushi.  I might try it."
Mom: 'Oh gag, sushi?  Yuck.  Well, I want to hear about it when you're done.  Going back to the hotel after that?  (subtle hint...)"
Me: 'Eh no - Jeff (my bro) told me about this jazz club that I want to check out.  I am going to go over there afterwards.'
Mom: ......silence....'*sigh...Please be careful.  Let me know when you're back at the hotel.'
Me: 'Sure thing.  I don't plan to stay long.  Just want to check it out.'


So I walked on over to the restaurant and decided, once the waitress asked me if there were any health issues that might keep me from eating sushi (at the time, my heart) so I decided, instead to go for some little meat skewer things and try kangaroo and alligator.  The alligator was like a tender beef and the kangaroo tasted like....._____________.  


I ate by myself (obviously) which I also love to do but apparently for some this is an act that takes courage.  


Afterwards I took the several blocks over and down to get to 'Blue Chicago' - one of the best jazz dives in town.  I will have to share more about that (I hope).  It was incredible.  It was there I saw this band (don't know their name) and this singer (wish I could remember her name) that brought the house down with her song, "Fat Daddies".

Is she not awesome?

So here's the deal - I am brave, but I try really hard not to be stupid.  I will walk city streets by myself and frequent interesting places that may or may not look a little seedy from the outside.  But here are some 'safety tips' that I came up with on this outing:

• Walking unfamilar streets in big cities?  Become a local.  Walk like them.  Dress/look like them.  And for crying out loud, don't be craning your neck, mouth agape like a tourist.  Be ninja subtle when referring to maps or your gps app on your phone (I act like all the other people phone obsessed, like I'm texting when I'm really looking at my phone following the little blue dot.)
• Have a plan.  Go ahead and prepare for 'worst case scenario'.  In this case, on the way to the restaurant, I was very alert and thinking, 'Okay, if someone comes up behind me and tries to grab me, throw that back round house kick you learned from the Taebo videos while reaching with your left hand (because I am left-handed) for the acrylic hair stick and turn swiftly to jab said sharp stick into creep's dangly bits.  All this while screaming like a howler monkey.'
• Wear hair sticks when walking in these situations.  They are potential weapons.
• Upon leaving an establishment at night (I think I left the club around 11 something) and you are obviously alone, have a plan.  I had been there long enough for fellow patrons to know I was by myself.  There were quite a few men in the joint, and some of them also by themselves.  So I made my way across the dance floor to the powder room, thinking about how I would leave and not attract any unwanted followers.  On my way out of the facilities, I put my phone to my ear, acting like I was trying to take a phone call.  It was extremely loud so no one could know what I was saying but I was playing it up big like I was hurrying outside to hear my caller.  I stood outside for a minute, still playing like I was on the phone to wait to see if anyone else came out.  It was well-lit and still close to a place with lots of people.  Better to be assaulted there than get a half a block away where there was no one.  While standing out there having the most riveting conversation with no one on the other end, I 'ended' my call and proceeded to make sure my phone's gps locator was on.  Reason?  IF I was grabbed and nabbed, I would throw the phone nearby and trackers could pick up my last location.
• Last, I tried calling my mamacita.  She'd asked me to call, and I reasoned that it would be less likely that someone would abscond me if I was on the phone, having an active conversation with someone and that person could hear me screaming and scuffling. Besides, look like a local.  EVERYONE in Chicago walks fast talking on the phone. Mom didn't answer...(grimace)
• So I activated Siri - I NEVER use Siri - she annoys me.  But she kept me company the entire way back, trying to 'understand' what I was saying as I pretended to have yet another spellbinding conversation.  She was no fun to talk to...beep beep beep.  'I do not understand what you are asking.'  'I know Siri, I just want to hear your voice while I walk back at night by myself.  Hang with me, seester. Gah.'

So there.  I guess I'm brave for traveling alone, being that I'm female and all.  You didn't know you were going to get safety tips to boot.

When were you brave?