Looking Into A Thief's Eyes

Have you ever had a personal possession stolen from you?

About nine years ago, both my car and Josh's car were broken into on the same night at the apartment complex we lived in at the time. I can remember going out to my car that day to go to work. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw that the trunk of my car, as well as the driver's side door was open. I sat there for a minute wondering if Josh was out there for some reason, but then, how could he be when he was still fast asleep? My heart had started pounding when I realized what I was looking at, and I thought "oh no! No way. Not me.Not a victim. I refuse!" It wouldn't have been so bad if this thief hadn't broken one of my windows, but whoever it was, did. It appeared that my CDs had been sifted through because they had a certain taste (took my Beastie Boys, but not my Lisa Loeb). A backpack and a pair of Birks were stolen from the trunk, plus a few other odd and end items, including my stereo. Same thing with Josh's car. I remember thinking how violated I felt. Someone had gone through my personal belongings and stole some items that I treasured. They were my belongings. And that person had touched them. It was just this awful feeling, sickening feeling, really about the whole situation. They left me in a lurch...took my stuff, broke one of my car windows, and made me feel so angry.

Well, I got over that a long time ago. And maybe I'm lucky that it has only happened to me once so far in my entire life. Last night, we decided to go out to dinner after I got home from a work trip. As we were driving to our destination, Josh asked me if I brought money. I said no because generally he does. He didn't. We had to turn around and go home. Even though we both a little mad about having to go back to the house, we are thankful that we did have to return.

As we were driving down our street, there was an old white pickup truck coming from the other direction. Driving slow. It stopped right in front of our neighbors house, and so I thought they were going to take the parking spot directly in front of our house by backing in. So I joked with Josh, "looks like your spot is going to get taken!" But, they didn't back up into the parking spot. An older woman got out of the passenger side (which was closest to the sidewalk) and started walking into our driveway. At this time we were passing the white truck and starting to make the turn into the driveway. As we passed the truck, I looked the driver in the eyes and something just looked off. He looked a little worried, a little mischievous, but definitely didn't look like he belonged right there at that second. As soon as we started to pull in, the woman turned around startled and hopped back in the truck. At this same time I lost contact with the man but was looking in the back of his truck. There was a pile of good and bad bikes and some other junk. Laying on the side of our front lawn up against the bushes were Bea's new bike and Olivia's tricycle, and our beat up stroller which you couldn't pay anyone to take.

We pulled into the driveway, and I think Josh and I put two-and-two together at exactly the same time. I said, "they were totally going to steal the bikes." He says, "totally". He hops out and runs out on the street. They were already long gone. So, we throw the bikes in the backyard and start driving around the neighborhood. You couldn't miss them. If they were still trolling our neighborhood, they would be easy to find. Josh said they probably got the heck out of our area and wouldn't be back, especially if they were smart. I said, "well, if I had a thief's mind, this would be a lot easier and we could find them." We looked for a while and came up empty-handed. But, at least we still have the bikes, one of which is just over a week old.

Before we took off looking for them, we warned our neighbor, who said he'd keep a look out and also said something that made a lot of sense: times are tough right now for a lot of people. True statement, yes. But, it shouldn't have to resort to crime.

Once again, I felt totally violated, and nothing was stolen. Maybe it is the fact that they were going to steal them, and that they looked at them and had every intention of taking them and selling them at the flea market this weekend. It's just wrong!

After all this had happened, I realized just how much Bea understood the situation:

B: Mommy, what happened to our bikes?
M (Mommy): Those people were thinking about stealing them, so daddy and I put them in the backyard.
B: Oh. They're bad guys.
M: You could say that. Stealing is not nice.
B: Oh, well if we find them, can I hit them?
M: No. If we ever found them, we would call the police.
B: And the police would put them in jail?
M: Yes (hopefully).

Where in the world did my child learn about jail? Totally off topic, but every situation she is totally taking in at this point.

Ok, we still have bikes. It was just an interesting story that I had to tell...pretty much catching someone in the act. Hopefully we scared the bejessus out of them.

In funner news, I went down to San Diego for work last Saturday and have now been working nine days straight (no, I am NOT kidding). I'm home now, but since I'm from the SD area, I was able to make it out one night with the ladies that I have known since the early days of middle and high school. Jen wrote a little bit about it on her blog, and I'll spare you all the giggles and memory talking shenanigans by showing you the token photo:


And, there was one of these ladies that I haven't seen in 15 years, who I am so glad made it out to join us. She said we all looked the same. We said she looked the same. We all laughed. And then we said we all still looked great and young, just more mature. Ah, man...more memories were made, and the best kind of all.