So we just got back from Vegas a few days ago and it was an awesome trip, but I haven't been able to get to sleep since I got back.  It would be cool if it was just jet lag, but it's not and I'm not sure what to do about it.  To tell you why I can't sleep, I need to tell you what happened after we got back home and went to get the kids from Mom and Dad.

Usually when we travel without the kids, we send the kids to my parents in Virginia.  A lot of the time, we'll meet halfway in Henderson or in Durham at Northgate Mall.  When we got back from Vegas, we drove to Northgate to meet Mom and Dad and get the kids.  This usually entails a brief meeting in the mall - sometimes with a meal in the food court, sometimes not.  This time, it was a quick get together because Steph and I had slept very little since the day we left Vegas, maybe 2 or 3 hours.  So we met the folks in the mall and then walked out to the Vans to exchange luggage and scooters and all of the paraphenalia associated with the boys.  While we were doing this and chatting, some douchebag was tearing through the mall parking lot, sqeualing his tires and narrowly missing other cars in the lot. 

Being a sarcastic family, Mom, Dad, and I waved our arms at the truck and yelled "Woo hoo!" and "Impressive!".  I've done this before and never really thought twice about it.  This time, the guy slams on his brakes and whips around in a U-turn then squeals to s stop beside us.  We're standing there outside of our mini-van with Gabriel and Colby strapped in their seat belts and this guy just starts flying off the handle.  He screams at Mom and tells her to "stop waving her fucking arms" and says "that's a good way to get shot."  Dad and I can't resist pointing out that he is waving his arms at us while he s saying this.  This infuriates him even further and he tells all of us to "shut the fuck up".  Mom and Dad tell the guy to watch his language around the kids and he just gets madder and yells more profanity at the kids.  I make some sort of mocing gesture at him and he puts the truck in park and goes for the door handle.

At that point, I start thinking maybe this guy is on steroids or pcp.  Maybe he has a gun and he's crazy enough to go to prison to prove he is a man.  I turn around and get my phone out the van and start to dial 9-1-1.  He asks who I'm calling and I tell him the police.  He says "What are you gonna tell them?"  So I think to myself "I 'm gonna tell them a crazy guy just pulled up to me in the mall parking lot and threatened to kill my family because my 60-year-old mother waved her arms in the air and he perceived it as a threat."  But since I think the guy may be batshit crazy, I tell him "I don't know, but I just want them here." At this point, Mom apologizes for offending him and he and I have a stare down for about 3 more minutes.  He finally puts his truck back in drive and takes off with another squeal of tires.  We finished getting the kids packed up, laughed about the incident, and parted ways and I didn't think about it again for awhile.

Last night, when I settled into bed, I started thinking about it again.  What if he had a gun?  What if he had gotten out and shot someone?  What if he had shot wildly and hit Gabriel or Colby?  What if he had killed Steph or Mom or Dad or Me?  What would happen to the kids if they saw opne of us shot to death in front of them?  Why was this guy so angry?  Was he crazy?  Did we narrowly miss getting hurt because some sociopath wanted to prove a point?  What if he had pointed a gun out the window and I tried to stop him.  What if I had gotten shot doing this?  What if I had caused him to shoot someone else while trying to stop him?  This went on and on in my head for literally hours.  The good part is I got in bed at 8:00pm and slept until midnight, then woke up at 2:30 and started this spiral, so even though it kept me up until 4:00, I still got a lot of sleep.

Tonight, I went to bed at normal time and I'm still up at 3:40 AM.  I'm thinking about going to the doctor to get some Ambien or something, but I know that is just a band-aid?  Do I need therapy or do I just wait it out until it's a bad, but faint memory? I guess I'll ask the doctor.