i came across this post that i had started a few months ago. i had wanted to blog about what happened to us for venting sake, but never finished it. i was going to delete it and not post it, but decided that i wanted finish it and post it anyway. this blog is not only for other's enjoyment, but also for a journal or scrapbook of sorts. and although it has been over two months since our house was broken into, i am posting anyway. so read it or not, but it is here for me and family and anyone else who is interested in this novel of a post.
this is not a fun post, but i feel the need to write about it. on september 26th, shortly before 2 a.m we were awakened by grace telling us that someone had taken my laptop and ran out of the house with it. of course my first thought was that she had had a bad dream and that our "checking" would bring peace of mind to her and sleep back to us. that was not the case. when i came into the kitchen, where i had left the laptop charging, and found no laptop-- my heart sank. it was surreal. the bag, which contained several chargers for various electronics, my ipod and some of gracie's birthday presents she had just received the day before from us, was also taken.
i immediately asked her what happened and she proceeded to explain that she got up for a drink of water and saw someone, who she thought was me, standing in the kitchen with my computer. when the person took it and ran out of the house she ran into our room to check for me in the bed. when she realized i was in the bed she figured out that someone had been in our house and had robbed us. she was very calm, but felt violated as the first thing she said was "they took your computer and your bag with all my presents in it."
she was very brave and very calm and gave us the best description that she could. of our three children to witness this, gracie is the best of the three as she is super observant and pays attention to the details that the rest of us don't. she didn't see the person's face nor could she tell us if it was a male or female, but she knew the color of the pants he/she was wearing and that it was a white person because she said she saw the thief's arms.
they got into one of our cars and used the garage door opener to open the garage half way and came in through the back door that was unlocked. we had all of our defenses down. the gate was broken so the dogs were on the back patio. we forgot to leave the porch light on so it was pitch black outside and basically inside as well. brady had fleas so he was on the back porch with the other dogs and not inside. and we failed to lock one of the cars and the back door leading to the garage. crazy!
obviously my first reactions were that of shock and gratitude. shock that someone came into our house and was creeping around while we were sleeping. and more shock that my little 7 yr. old daughter woke up and walked in on the person and was standing 10 feet from him! and gratitude that she and the rest of us were safe. what if they had decided to hurt her because she had seen one of them? (we are convinced that it had to be more than one person.) or worse--take her!!
then i began to get angry! my neighbor, who was robbed last year, told me to prepare for this reaction. it was eating me up! how dare someone come into MY house and take MY stuff that we have worked hard for! what gives them the right? and how dare they take away my sense of security within my OWN house! because i had to work that week it was a HUGE inconvenience since my laptop was gone. every time i wanted to workout i had no music because my ipod was gone too! i still have fantasies of me being awake that night and releasing the hounds on their skinny little butts, watching in pleasure as they chase them down the street ripping at their clothing and flesh. THEY would have been calling the police instead of us!
i keep rethinking that night before we went to bed. if we had done this or that... maybe some things wouldn't have been taken. if we had fixed the gate, the dogs would have been in the yard to deter them. if we had taken care of our little dog's fleas he would have been in the house and not on the back patio and would have barked and startled them and woken us up, etc.... but mauricio wisely stated, "it doesn't matter what we should have done, THEY should NOT have been in OUR house. it's not our fault."
the gate was fixed immediately and the dogs are back on duty. brady got his flea treatment and is back in the house. we are now more uber cautious about locking up and we leave several lights on in the house at night now. mauricio is just now feeling comfortable enough to sleep in our room and not on the couch near the girls' rooms (with a hunting knife close by).
we did find more stuff missing from our garage a few days later. two 5 gallon water jugs. weird. maybe they got thirsty on the job? and just recently we discovered a box of electronic cables and a computer monitor, which we were not obviously using, were also missing. hopefully we don't run into anymore missing items. it just opens the wounds all over again.
it took some time for me to get over it because we all know that things are replaceable. but they are not cheap and they were big splurges for us. so little by little we are buying them back. unfortunately, i am stuck with mauricio's dinosaur of a laptop, but it's better than nothing right now. and i have been downgraded to a borrowed ipod
since this happened, a number of people have been robbed in our area and the local police even had a big electronic sign stationed on one of the main roads that read something like: "be careful. lock your doors. several robberies have taken place in the area." so it goes to show that we are not alone, but it still doesn't make it suck any less.
if anything has come from this (besides us being short a few thousand dollars worth of stuff and feeling totally violated), at least i have a few friends who tell me they now lock their back doors leading to their garages where they didn't before. i am also thankful that i decided to move my brand new cell phone from the kitchen, next to my laptop, to my bathroom. and i am also grateful that i did not leave my purse in its usual spot on the kitchen counter with all the other stuff that was taken. and, of course i am most grateful for the obvious; that we are all safe. so, learn from our mistakes, and lock up a little tighter!
