The nerve

What started out as a wonderful day yesterday, ended with me wondering what nerve somepeople have.

Yesterday afternoon I went to my friend Val's church to volunteer for Kids Against Hunger. We worked together in an assembly line with dozens of others packing meals for malnourished children in Haiti. In an hour's time, our group packed neary 24,000 meals. What a moving experience - I left feeling great knowing we'd helped those less fortunate.

Afterwards, I raced downtown to pick up my friend Ellie. We then headed to Uptown Minneapolis to watch the last portion of the pond hockey championships Andi's company was producing. The event was fantastic! Hundreds of spectators turned out and everyone was gushing about Andi's level of execution. I was so proud of him!

Following the event, Ellie and I headed back to my car to get ready for the event after party. We were bundled up in snow/outdoor gear and wanted to freshen up for the party. As we approached my car, I noticed the back seat was laying flat in my car. We both looked at each other puzzled and wondered if it was like that before. Seemed strange, but I didn't think much of it. We got into my car and I reached for my GPS which was sitting in the center part of the car. I'm not such a great downtown Minneapolis driver so we used the GPS earlier to naviagate from downtown to uptown. I noticed the GPS wasn't there and asked Ellie if it was under her feet or on her seat. We both got out of the vehicle and searched around. Then I noticed my Oakley sunglasses (my very favorite pair) were missing too. Now things felt fishy. I popped the trunk to see if anything was missing from there (remember - my back seat was laying down when I got to the car and you can access my car's trunk from the back seat laying down.  Nothing was missing except a silver briefcase of Andi's he'd had engraved with his company's name.

Now I knew something was wrong. My car had been broken into while we were at the championship - just across the street!! Panicking and feeling violated, I wanted to call Andi but couldn't bother him because he was wrapping up his event. Ellie called her boyfriend Derrick (also working the event) who told us to find the park police and file a police report. Luckily, they were sitting across the street at the event site. I explained the situation to the policeman and he wrote a report. "I know you know," he said, "but I'm going to tell you anyway. Never leave items out in plain site. You're asking for someone to break in." I know this. And how stupid for me to leave the GPS sitting out. Lesson learned. Now I want my stuff back.

I always keep a bunch of stuff in my car. Throughout the night I remembered more and more things stolen from my vehicle:

My very favorite pair of Oakley sunglasses - $200
Andi's GPS + charger - $250
Blackberry phone charger - $25
Work's iPod 32G Touch - $269
My iPod 32G (classic style) - $225
Oakley perscription eyeglasses - $200
My brand new Canon Camera (just got for Christmas) + case - $250
Chico reusable bag - $5
Andi's Oakley sling bag - $150
Andi's stainless steel briefcase - $150
Jeans, my favorite pair - $100
Long sleeve shirt - $10
New purple Scarf - $20
Heels - $30
Makeup - $30
Hairspray - $20
My sense of security - Priceless

Total = $1,937 in stolen goods

.... and that's just the items I can pinpoint that are gone. A few things that fry my nerves:

ONE: I'm just sick that my brand new camera is gone. It was my Christmas present from Andi. And I almost didn't bring it with yesterday - it was on the charger and I grabbed it at the last minute.

TWO: I now have to go out and buy all new makeup and brushes. How annoying is that?

THREE: My wallet and brand new Oakley sunglasses were missed by the little perps, and I'm so relieved. I got the shades from Andi for my birthday last week and they were stuffed in the driver's side door. I'd shoved my wallet underneath my driver's seat between the seat and driver's door. I am SO lucky they missed it.

FOUR: I'm so mad at myself for having such a small town mentality. How stupid am I for leaving that GPS out in the open. It was a crime of opportunity and I played right in. How frustrating!

I can't help but think - why do things like this happen? I suppose God has a plan and I should learn from this life lesson. To all of you out there - be careful and guard your things! What a crappy ending to a great day.