Yesterday my older daughter came home a little early and a little upset.  And she had blood on the knuckles of her right hand.  She *had* to talk to me right away.  The story was simple:  she and another girl had been collecting samples of creek water for a high school environmental science class when 2 somewhat younger boys showed up.  My daughter wasn’t comfortable with the situation (she was in the creek) and moved around so she could watch the boys and not have her back to them.  Suddenly the boys grabbed the girls’ backpacks (with their wallets, keys, phones and pda’s) and took off-with my daughter in hot pursuit.  She ran 1 down, punched him twice in the head and mouth (hence the bloody knuckles) and got her pack back.  Then she headed for the other boy who dropped everything and ran away.

Now, I’m proud as punch of her and what she did can be a lesson to us all:  1) she listened to her instincts; 2) she retained situational awareness and did not let them get behind her and 3) she reacted well under crisis.  Some things you should know before you object that she could have been hurt by the boys:  a) she’s been training in the martial arts for 17 years (since she could crawl); b) she regularly works out the Marines and c) she’s used to the idea of going barehanded against weapons.  Still, this is absolutely *not* what any untrained person should do and she did take a big chance.  O, one last thing:  this morning I made sure to check on her Tetanus shot records to see if she needed another shot.