just call me seven

So, my sister-in-law came out of her surgery just fine… thanks so much for all of your kind words. I just came home today, and she is recovering nicely.

The weirdest thing happened in the wee hours of Thursday morning though… something that is distressing, inconvenient and more than a little creepy: My brother & sister-in-law’s apartment was burglarized… while we were all in it. And more than that, I was in the living room (where the door is) sleeping on the hide-a-bed at the time.

The weird thing is that we didn’t even notice that anything was gone until around 4:00 that afternoon! We all woke up late (around 11) due to a general lack of sleep, and it was my brother’s only day off, so we just lounged around and took it easy and didn’t even leave the house. The BFF had noticed that their laptop was gone earlier, but she just thought that my brother had taken it into their bedroom to print something, as he often does. Then when my brother asked where it was, he and I both asked each other if it was a practical joke, which of course it wasn’t. So then we thought maybe one of us had been sleepwalking… none of us had been sleeping well, what with surgery and my brother’s early work shifts and my sleeping on a hide-a-bed, so it feasibly could have happened, but we searched the house and found no trace of it. And the house is pretty small, so it’s not like we could have missed it.

So then we realized that the only explanation was that someone had stolen it. So my brother went to talk to the neighbors to see if they had seen anything, but didn’t really get any information out of anyone. When he came back into the house we figured that we had better call the police, so my brother looked for his phone, and when he couldn’t find it, he asked The BFF and she told him that it was in her purse, which was when we realized that her purse was gone, and then we noticed that my purse was gone as well. And that’s when it really sunk in that someone really had been in the house and stolen our stuff (’cause a laptop’s one thing, but a woman’s purse is like another limb, right? Take that away, and it’s like we lost a part of us). By the grace of God, my phone was in the hide-a-bed with me, so we were able to use that to call the police and start calling our banks and credit card companies and stuff.

As The BFF and I were listing the contents of our purses (at which time I remembered that my car and house keys were in my purse), my brother realized that his wallet was gone as well as his iPod. And awhile after that we realized that also gone was a TV antenna that he bought so that we could watch the season premiere of Lost. It didn’t work because the tower was too far away or something, and he was going to take it back, so it was just sitting by the door in its box ready to go back to the store.

To top it all off, the thief also stole a little round container that The BFF’s grandma had given to her which contained about four dollars in quarters for doing laundry. The container was nearly worthless, but we think they took it because it was sparkly on the top, and maybe they thought it was worth something. But still, lame. I mean, come on. Was it really worth the $4? Now The BFF can’t even do laundry. They only had $10 cash left in their house, but they probably need to save that for something important, like food or gas in their car.

Then this morning my brother realized that the antique pocket watch The BFF had given him as a wedding present was also gone, and that was the lamest thing of all. Not because it was worth a lot, but because it was irreplaceable. A new laptop can be bought, they can share an iPod, since hers wasn’t stolen, all of us are getting replacement credit cards and can go to the DMV to get new licenses, but that’s one thing that, unless it shows up in a pawnshop somewhere, is just gone.

I’m feeling a little traumatized at the moment… I left their house today to come home, because even though I work at home I can’t be gone forever, and since their only phone was stolen, I left them mine, because people can call me at my parents’ number. So when I left, I had my clothes and stuff, but I didn’t have a purse or a phone, and that was a really weird feeling. I went to a birthday party for one of my dear friends about an hour after I got home, and The Croodler came too, so he drove. But as we were getting into his car, I kept feeling weird. I’ve carried a purse since I was eleven or twelve, and I haven’t left my house without my phone in almost 4 years. I have other purses I could have carried, but I would have nothing to put in it, so there’s really no point. All that to say, it’s really weird not to have a license, credit card, checkbook, phone, car or house keys… The BFF and I didn’t even have any lip balm! All she had was one little cheap dollar store stuff that was almost gone. It’s weird to not have any of the things
that I normally keep with me at all times. I feel violated, and it’s especially creepy to think that someone was in the same room, less than 6 inches away from my bed, and I had no idea.

But at the same time, if you’re going to be robbed, this is the way to do it. There was no accosting, no pointing of guns, no threats, no actual trauma. It was probably the most peaceful way there is to be robbed.

Once, while I was housesitting, I had a nightmare that I was running away from someone and they shot me. When I saw them pull the gun up, I turned sideways (not sure what my logic was, but it was a dream, and dream logic is way different than logical logic) and the guy shot me 5 or 6 times, all the way up my right arm. It was one of those dreams where you physically feel everything that’s happening, and that last shot woke me up. Now, I never have running dreams, or people chasing me dreams, and never people shooting me dreams, so I had to wonder why I had that dream, and why I woke up. My dreams never wake me up. Never. Then I thought I heard a noise out in the kitchen, and was instantly nearly paralyzed with fright. My adrenaline kicked in and my heart started pounding, and I started breathing more heavily. I was positive that whoever was in the house would hear me breathing and come shoot me so I couldn’t call 911. It took me nearly 45 minutes of total silence for me to work up the courage to even get out of bed, and once I did that, I waited by the bedroom door for about five minutes until I was able to make myself go turn on every light in the house and check all the locks, and even then the only reason I ever got out of bed was because I had to pee so badly. After I verified that the house was empty except for me, I was still so shaken that I had to leave a light on when I went back to bed, and I still ended up watching TV for about two hours before I was even sleepy again. Ever since, I’ve been a little afraid that someday it’ll happen for real, and worried about what I would do, but I guess I know now… I’ll just sleep through it all and never even know.

What makes this even stranger is that I was tossing and turning all night. I had been sleeping on that dang hide-a-bed for a week, and my hips were killing me. So I woke up probably around 15 or 20 times to turn over before it was even light. So I know it was the Lord keeping us asleep and safe, because normally I would have awakened at the slightest sound.

All evening yesterday I had to keep reminding myself that it was real, and it did happen, and my purse with all my stuff really is gone. It feels like some sort of dream or alternate reality, like someone will pop out from behind a corner tomorrow and tell me that we got punk’d or that we were on Candid Camera.

I feel at a loss… I don’t really know where to start. I know I have to get a new license, but first I have to dig out my Social Security card and birth certificate… This is just lame, because I have minimal money to begin with, and while they didn’t get any cash (maybe like 16 cents…), I still have to pay around twenty bucks to get a new license, order new checks…

It’s just stuff, and it’s really not important in the long run. I am truly grateful that all of us stayed asleep and didn’t interrupt anything, and that we’re all okay. And they didn’t take my brother or sister-in-law’s keys, which is good, because their car was parked right in front of their apartment. They do have my keys, but I live a three-hour drive away from my brother, so it should be alright. I hope.

And my parents bought my brother and sister-in-law a new laptop, just a cheap one that was the same price as the one that got stolen, but still a big purchase. We’re not rich by most peoples’ standards, but we are careful with our money, and my parents have a checking account that’s separate from their normal one that they call “The Master Has Need Of…,” and the idea is basically that any time they hear of a need, they have something to give. And it’s nice for my brother, because that way he can be at home doing school and spending time with his pregnant wife instead of going to the school computer lab every time he needs to type up a paper or send an email (some of his professors only accept emailed work for some reason).

Wow… long post. If you made it to the end, congratulations. Thanks for reading, and lock your doors. I’m going to bed (my own bed for the first time in seven days… hallelujah) to try to sleep… I’m a little jumpy still, so we’ll see how it goes. I mistyped a word and hit two keys at the same time, which made the computer beep at me, and I nearly peed my pants. I’m not really all that freaked out except when I think about it too much or retell it, which I just did here, so I think I’ll be alright if I just read a book until I’m sleepy. It helps that I have my dad, mom, youngest brother and little sister here, so it’s not like I’m alone. If I get scared, I’ll go crawl in bed with my sister… she’d like that anyway. :)