I won't always be able to keep her safe.

Yesterday we all went to the grocery store, stopping at Starbucks first to enjoy a latte outside on the patio. It was a great morning. McClellan smiled all morning and jabbered through our latte time.

From there we went next door to King Soopers to pick up a few things. We were in an isle, McClellan in her car seat in the large basket area of the cart and our items tucked in around her. Matt and I were looking for a certain type of bean and had the cart about 10 feet from where we were looking-there had been no one else in the isle so no big deal.

At one point I saw out of the corner of my eye that someone was coming down the isle behind us, headed towards McClellan's direction. I looked up and saw the person...the monster I should say. It was Greg Slice (fake name so I won't get sued should this ever get out)...a sex offender found Not Guilty at trial of over 40 counts of Sex Assault on a Child, his daughter being the victim.

I immediately spun around and went to McClellan and immediately started crying-not bawling but tearing up and sick to my stomach. Having that monster anywhere near my daughter made me want to vomit.

The facts of the case came flooding back-I remembered listening to the Victim, only 9 years old at the time she testified, recalled the details of the continued abuse at the hands of this monster who was now feet from my daughter.

Matt could tell something was up-this is typically my response when I run into one of my old defendants. This time was different though. This time my child was with me. This time the monster wasn't just feet from me but feet from my daughter-walking by so close she was within arms reach. It disgusted me and affected me on a level unknown to me until now.

For those of you that don't know where all of this is coming from...I used to work in the Special Victim's Unit at the District Attorney's Office. Our cases were almost all child abuse cases-physical child abuse, including child abuse resulting in death and sex assault on a child cases. My job was to work with the Victim's and their families through the process of the case and help the Attorney's organize their case for trial-in a nut shell.

It seemed like wherever we went in the store there he was.

I couldn't stop the tears and I couldn't take my hands off the cart where McClellan was safely in her car seat. It was then I realized that I won't always be able to be right next to her and I won't know every bad person in the world. I won't always be able to keep her safe-that realization took the breath out of me.

We couldn't get them all...this one got away with the horrible things he did to his daughter. Now he's free to walk right next to mine.

Makes me sick.