Black Thursday

So most everyone knows the story but I'm writing it anyway for those who haven't heard and because this is kind of like a journal for me. So the story begins on a bright January day. It is 9:30am and Addi and I are just getting out of the car for Joy School at Hazel's. I am going to be staying today to help with the 5 active girls that make up our Joy School. I grab my bag from off the front seat and think...I'll just leave this out here, one less thing for me to juggle while I'm here. So I tuck it kind of under the back seat. We go to Joy School and have a fun time. At around 11:45am we are all playing outside and waiting for moms to come, when one mom comes up to me and says did you know that one of your car windows is broken? I was NOT aware of this and went quickly to see. Sure enough the back, drivers side window had been litterally bashed in with glass everywhere and of course my bag was gone. It had my credit card, drivers license, debit card, my spare key (that doesn't sound like much but it was over $100 because it's computerized or something) temple recommend...everything, including the cute little digital camera I just got for Christmas.

So, we called the police and when he got there he was kind of un-interested. I know I shouldn't have left my bag out there but I thought I'd be OK in the morning in a "safe"neighborhood with it in the back. I understand that I shouldn't have done that, but this isn't my fault...I am not contributing to the crime here. He was also upset when he found out that my registration was out-of-state and 10 days overdue (I was waiting for my thing in the mail for heavens sakes) at that point he pretty much forgot about the felon that was on the loose and started threatening me that he'd better not see me driving around with expired tags and that if he did he'd tow my car with my kids in it. I called him on that one. I said, "really! you would tow my car with my kids in it?!" and he kind of back pedaled and said "well...no but I would tow your car, even if you had kids with you." What a tough guy.

And when Randall told me that this crime was a felony and if they caught this guy (which they won't because they're more worried about towing the cars of mothers with children) he could spend more than a year in jail. I kind of felt vindicated, no wonder I feel so upset about it...it's a real crime!

But that day I was SO thankful for the kindness of my friends. Saydi spent the afternoon scavenging in the garbage cans around the neighborhood hoping that he just took the camera, the 12 cents in cash and dumped the rest...but to no avail. She also offered the use of her car. So nice! I do not deserve such friends. We also went to Greg and Judy's to use their shop vac to vacuum out the glass and patch the window with garbage bags and duct tape...classy. And they invited us to eat dinner there, which I was so thankful for because as I was inhaling my ravioli's I realized that I had had nothing to eat but an apple before Joy School that day.

So it has been 4 days and all my accounts have been cancelled, we've signed up for "Life Lock" and we are trying to put everything back together and as I look back on it now, I am still upset, but I know it could have been worse and I am glad that they were just material things that can be replaced. My family is safe and we have each other and beyond that nothing else really matters.