Violated

This morning bright and early I went for my early morning walk with the Fairhaven walking group. It was blustery and rainy at Lake Padden, but this is what I found when I returned to my car: a shattered passenger side window and the pillow that covered my purse/pack on the floor moved aside and my valuables were just gone. Inside was my wallet with credit cards, debit card, checks, and driver's license, along with sundry other things I hope I have remembered.

They also stole my iPad2 and camera, both of which I carry with me almost always. It hurts like the dickens, but the hardest part is the feeling of violation. Feeling that they are looking at my entire life story, with my home address on my license, all my cards simply... gone. Everything that tells people who I am is gone. By the time I had canceled my debit and credit cards, the thieves had gotten six separate charges on them, three on each. They filled up their car with gas, to start, then went off to buy groceries ($80), bop over to Rite Aid ($190), and a quick stop at Starbucks ($180). Figure they got gift cards or something to rack up that amount. A stop at several stores with the credit card, totaling another $350, and by the time they got to Macy's, the nice something they tried to buy for themselves for $518 was denied. I will not have to pay any of the charges, but the crying, the helpless feeling (have I remembered everything?) have not gone completely away yet. It's been six hours since I discovered it.

Having two direct deposits and having to close my checking account... all this pain will continue for weeks, if not months. I also had a key to my car in my wallet, and they know my address. Some nice neighbors have allowed me to park my car in their driveway, with their cars behind and beside mine, so that until the window can be fixed, nobody can take it. I'll get one of those bars you can place on your steering wheel, I guess, so that nobody can drive it away once it's fixed.

And it's Christmas Eve. I am determined to have a good holiday, because I just don't want them to have the satisfaction of destroying me, too. I remember long ago when my mother was robbed, heavy silver and furs all gone, she never got over it. Well, I can replace everything, and I still have a choice to make about how I deal with this misfortune.

The police tell me that this is a common occurrence at Lake Padden. It's shady and the thieves sit in cars with tinted windows, waiting to see you show up and go for a nice walk around the 2.6-mile lake. You won't be back soon. When nobody is coming, they strike quickly. They must have figured that the pillow covered something they wanted. Nothing else was touched.

I have my little camera that I used before I bought my latest one with a zoom, and I still have my iPod, which I'll use. Fortunately Smart Guy wouldn't let me put any critical passwords into my iPad, but they have my email address and are probably going through my pictures and looking for whatever they can find to use before wiping the iPad clean and selling it. This is not helping. Positive thoughts, positive thoughts...
:-(