happiest/proud moment

so i definitely could never distinguish or remember my happiest or proudest moment of all my life - maybe if i kept a diary or pondered for a very long time. but one especially extraordinary moment does come to mind. last summer i was living in i.v. and working downtown at cost plus market. i was on my lunch break at the habit just a few stores up from my work. while i was sitting there eating, alone, there was some weird dude lingering around the ordering line and leaning against the wall of the restaurant next door a bit to the left of me (bear in mind the habit is outdoor). he seemed to say something to someone waiting for their food but then back away quickly. then he walked over all weirdly and came straight up to me. although i couldn't totally understand him, not because he didn't speak english, but because he was just sort of muttering and not speaking clearly. i managed to make out that he was asking if i had a lighter. i told him that i had quit just a few weeks prior and he began to walk away. then, i remembered i used to keep spare emergency matches in my wallet just in case and said wait! i may have some matches. and i did so i gave them to him and he tried to return them but i told him to just keep them because i wouldn't need them anymore. then he went and leaned against the same wall as before but this time right in front of me. i thought this was a bit odd but concluded that he was just a weirdo. moments later as he was smoking his cigarette, my phone rang. as soon as i answered, he came at me, threw the matches in my face AND STOLE MY PURSE!!!!!!! i immediately was up chasing him screaming profanities at him. i chased him down this pathway, through a parking garage, across ortega street, through an alleyway, around a building, and into a park!!!! men were running after me trying to help but they were not nearly as quick. it was some guys hanging out in the alleyway who saw him coming with my purse and me screaming profanities right behind him so then the whole group took after him, 10 or so steps ahead of me.just when i was rounding the final building and just about to die, i saw the alley men with their hands out before him in the park, demanding the purse back. the guys gave it back to me. i felt like i was going to throw up, i hadn't sprinted since i quit soccer 3 years before and still, that was probably the fastest i had ever run in my entire life. i couldn't breathe, but i was thrilled yet overwhelmed that he caught up with me. on my way back to work, people in the parking garage said they were on the phone with the police and that they wanted to speak to me. so i talked to them and said that i had to go back to work but they told me they were sending someone there. i came back to work hysterical and they told me to go chill in the back. then a police man came, asked me some questions, and said he wanted me to come with him to identify someone. so i rode with him a ways and from a block and a half away i recognized the dude who cops had sitting on the curb and stood up when we drove by. i nodded my head, and knew he would take off his beanie and unzip his jacket, which he had. the cop i was with took my statement and talked to me for a while (he totally hit on me which was lame) but he said that the mugger told them he couldn't believe i kept up with him, and i was wearing sandals. they weren't exactly sandals, but not shoes either. but i was thrilled because i know he targeted me because i'm small and a girl but i proved that you can't judge a book by its cover. apparently the witnesses that called described me as a european tourist (so not the case), which is also maybe a reason why he targeted me - perhaps he thought i was a tourist and had hella money on me, though i didn't have anything. although he looked like he was like 26, apparently he had only turned 18 just 3 days before...DUMBASS!!!!! the last funny thing is that the girl who called me was my friend kelsey who was in town for an MIP class thing and was staying with me for the night and after she heard me screaming and hang up the phone she drove around looking for me. when i finally met up with her she said that i wouldn't believe it, she was stopped at a stoplight and some guy was crossing and some cops were following him...then the guy started to run so the cops ran after him and tazed him!!!!! and we realized it was the same guy!!!!!!!!! take that sucker!!!!