It seems that at least once in our lives, everyone becomes a victim in some way. Certainly, some experiences are far worse than others. Many are fatal. Therefore, in retrospect, I suppose I got off easy when my turn came.
Almost one year ago on July 14th, it was a quiet, peaceful Monday--my day off from work. In the early afternoon I left my house to go to the store to pick up a few things for dinner. My son left the house shortly after I did to go to a friend's house. I hadn't been gone for even an hour and when I returned, I knew something was wrong. The front door was wide open and I felt an immediate sinking feeling in my gut.
Without thinking, I foolishly went inside and took a quick look around; my initial fear was confirmed. Someone had broken into my house in the short time I was gone. What made matters worse was that obviously someone had been watching the house and made his move quickly as soon as my son and I left. This gave me an extremely uncomfortable feeling.
Some drawers were opened in the living room, their contents scattered about but at least there weren't any signs of needless, just for the hell of it vandalism. I saw where the intruder got in through a narrow window in the kitchen from which the screen had been pulled. And yes, I had left the window open about an inch or so without even thinking about it. I remember feeling this brief, begrudging moment of thanks that the jerk at least had the grace to step over the computer on the desk under the window and not topple it to the floor in the process! When I went into our little bathroom off our bedroom, the very sad reality of this burglary hit me. All my jewelry was gone. Two little jewelry boxes were upside down on the floor where they had been dumped unceremoniously. Four empty plastic ice-cube trays were strewn about the floor as well.
What, you ask, were ice-cube trays doing in my bathroom? These were where I had kept my awesome earrings; a pair had been stored in each little compartment. How clever, how convenient and alas, how accessible. I was devastated, soon to be accompanied with feelings of complete shock and disbelief.
Over a period of several decades, I had accumulated an extensive collection of very unique and beautiful earrings. They had become my trademark. Through the years my mother had given me earrings for Christmas and birthday gifts. I had some very special ones that had belonged to her, ones that I very carefully selected from her jewelry box after she died. My husband presented me with lovely, unusual earrings over the years as well. They had all been taken from me.
Necklaces and rings were, of course, gone too. I had an exquisite necklace that my mother-in-law gave to me made from three diamonds from my husband's grandmothers' rings. It was a one-of-a-kind piece. Now it's gone forever. Gone, too, the opal necklace from my husband on our wedding day, his high school ring which I had kept from the first day we started going steady back in November, l969, another beautiful necklace that he gave to me on our first Valentine's Day and so much more.
I know, I know. They were only "things" and I should be glad no harm came to anyone. I was and I still am. I do not set my store on material things whatsoever but these were treasures very dear to my heart and I have so few very nice things. Upon further inspection, we discovered that our two portable CD players, my son's Gameboy and a fairly decent 35mm camera had been lifted as well. Still, I felt like I was the hardest hit and even now, a whole year later, if I allow myself to think of the special trinkets I no longer have, I dissolve into tears.
These are things that can never be replaced. There is no price you can attach to sentiment. The police were called, a report was filed and eventually my insurance company sent me a settlement check which we ultimately used to pay off the balance of our car payment and purchase a much needed, no frills lawnmower. Thus, the proverbial silver lining to my dark cloud of theft was acknowledged and served. They were hardly recompense for my loss but items that needed to be paid for nonetheless.
The final insult to injury in this unfortunate incident was when I received my new house insurance bill for the 2004-05 coverage reflecting an increase "due to the claim for theft reported in 2003. Now, really! You just can't win!!
4 comments:
I'm so sorry. It makes me sick that we pay for insurance to protect us, if anything should ever happens. But, yet when it does, we are stuck with a higher payment. that just ticks me off-I mean we don't break into our own homes, steal our own cars, etc, but yet we pay for it!
So glad everything is ok with your family.
Jan
Talk about adding insult to injury!
I can only imagine the feeling of violation you experienced, having such personla and loved items stolen...most likely by someone who was going to sell them for drug money. I probably would have cried for days! Lisa :-]
Were the ice trays just sitting on the bathroom counter or stored elsewhere in your bathroom? For what was took in under an hour, I'd be suspicious that it was someone I know, or perhaps someone that had staked your out enough to know your coming and goings. I mean, they did a quick clean entry, sweep and take. They didn't bother trying to haul the computer, search for silver ect. because they were either professional/s or had an inkling about where you might go and how long it would take. My neighbors had something similar done to them. Their burglary took less than 45 minutes and the thieves knew exactly where to hit. They found out several months later it had been an aquaintance of their daughter whom had been invited into their home *once*. Unfortunately he was caught doing it to another house he had been invited into as well. Neighbors never recovered their items. Yes, they are just items, but that doesn't stop them from having special meaning and places in our hearts. I'm so sorry that you lost such favored keepsakes.
Steph~
What a violation....I am so sorry for the loss of your special things...
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