Many years ago, back in the late 50's, my Mom and I were sunbathing. What's odd about this is my Mom never went into the sun, as she had a typical red head's complexion and got sunburned badly. Her skin was so sensitive, her arm would get sunburned through the glass on a car window. I, on the other hand, rarely got sunburned and usually had a nice deep tan during the summer months. But she and my Dad were taking a trip to Mexico and knew she'd be out in the hot sun a lot while touring the areas. My Dad was a doctor and found out about some new medicine that a person could take that would enable them to get a nice tan, instead of a bad burn. I don't know the details on this medicine, or if it ever made it to market. I'm sure it had an effect on the liver. At any rate, the medicine was working well, and my Mom had a beautiful tan, instead of a sunburn. We'd go outside on the upper patio once a day and lay out on lounge chairs and bake. Our chairs were located near the side door towards the back of the patio, near the stairs to the lower patio. One afternoon, while we are peacefully relaxing on our lounge chairs, something caught my attention near the front of our patio. I heard a slight noise and looked up and saw a man standing there with a large butcher knife! I was freaked. My Mom had no clue there was danger lurking, and I whispered to her "Please get up and go into the house, and do not ask me any question... MOVE!". She did what I asked her to do, and I followed quickly behind her and slammed the door shut. I told her what I saw. By then, the person was gone. We called 911 and the police came right over and took a report. I described as closely as I could remember what the person looked like. Age, height, clothing, etc. We called my Dad and he came home from the hospital right away. The police came back shortly after my Dad came home and said they had found the man. They told us the man lived a few doors down the steet from our house, and he lived with his parents and was never let out of the house. He was mentally ill, and the parents had always kept a good control on not letting the man outside. The police asked us if we wanted to press charges and my Dad said "No, if this is just one incident and it's never happened before and the parents make sure it never happens again, then, we'll just let it go." This incident could have been truly an awful event, but fortunately, it never turned into a nightmare.
That was a close one! It is sad that there are people like that living not knowing life. I'm so glad that nothing happened and everything was alright when it happened. You're fast thinking saved you and your Mom! My friend goes to the 9th island, Las Vegas and has made friends who are a bit slow, but drive and they are twins. They're in the same club that he organized and he goes to Las Vegas with his club. I carry the Lords armor wherever I go too for even in Hawaii Police find trash bags filled with body parts that so far I know no clue as to catching the killer. Saint Christopher is a good protection wherever you are.
It's real scary to see an intruder. And with a butcher knife at that? It's fortunate that you did not scream for help. When something like that happens, our normal reaction is to broadcast what is happening. Okay, you did not bother to press charges. But considering that the man has a mental illness and he came in unannounced with a threat (with that knife) I guess that's plain negligence on your part. Reporting it to the police will somehow give you a better protection since they already have been warned.
That was an unfortunate experience for your family and the family of the man that intruded on you with no knowledge that he was doing something wrong. Glad it came to no more than it did.