Our Favorite Things: Gone.

It's been a while since I have posted on this blog and, honestly, it has been a little tough to come back again.

Originally, I wanted to write another "favorite things" post about this beautiful J. Crew bracelet that Alex bought me for Valentine's Day.  Aside from my engagement ring, it is the first piece of jewelry that he's ever given me and I just loved it.  A lot has changed recently though and that doesn't really seem very important at the moment, so I won't be writing about that.  Also, I no longer have the bracelet in my possession.

Recently, our home was burglarized-- it's been one of my biggest fears since living in the city and it is an event that I hope none of you ever have to experience.  We met for dinner at our favorite bar one night after work and returned home to find our deadbolt broken on the floor, our apartment in a state of disarray, and numerous small valuables gone.  It's taken us a few days to get back on our feet and I imagine it will take even longer for us to feel normal again, let alone safe.  If you have ever had the bad fortune of being robbed, you likely understand what I mean.  There is no creepier feeling than knowing a stranger was in your home, touching your things, looking at your most personal belongings, and deciding which ones to take away with him.  I now have a little anxiety before entering my home alone, I check the locks on our door at least 3 times before I go to sleep, and I look at every stranger (and even every neighbor) a little differently.  It's affected my usually unaffected husband too.  Alex hears a noise outside or upstairs and does a lap around our place to make sure nothing out of the ordinary is happening.  It's really an awful feeling to not feel safe in your own home.  I know it will get better eventually, but part of me thinks that I will never feel truly safe again in this apartment.  Part of me also feels like I'll never feel safe again no matter where we live now that we have gone through this and we know that it truly can happen to anyone.  And it happened to us.

My motherboard, my self. True story.

They took my laptop, which was really scary.  In college I had experienced the occasional computer crash without backing up regularly (shame on me and Carrie Bradshaw), but at least the sad empty laptop was still sitting there in front of me and my persoanl information was unavailable to everyone-- myself included. Even with as often as you're using it, you don't totally realize how much of yourself is stored in that little machine until it's gone and you feel like some stranger has total access to you.  And they really do.


Sadder though, is that they took almost all of my jewelry.  I don't even own expensive jewelry and I wear my nicer things almost everyday-- thank God I was wearing them that day too.  The burglar did, however, make off with all but one piece of jewelry that I received after my Oma passed away.  They were mostly costume pieces that aren't worth anything to anyone other than me because I know the great woman to whom they originally belonged.  And they're probably sitting somewhere in a pawn shop now where their future owner will have no idea how much they meant to me and how much I miss seeing them in my jewelry box every day.  My laptop can be replaced.  Oma's bracelets and Opa's cufflinks cannot be and that really sucks.  Excuse my language, but there is really no nicer way to describe the situation

I'm not really sure how you end a post like this-- maybe with a warning to be vigilant about the security in your building or your neighborhood, to remind you to install "Find My Mac" on all of your devices (man, I wish I had done that), to encourage you to lock up your family heirlooms, or to tell you again not to trust a stranger-- no matter what they look like?  To say that it really can happen to anyone?  Maybe this is a sign that it's time to seriously consider moving into a house in the suburbs?  Or maybe we should think about how badly it could have gone and didn't-- one of us could have been home sick by ourselves when someone broke in, they could have destroyed the items that they left behind, or what if we hadn't decided at the last minute to meet for dinner after work and I had come home alone to discover the burglary?  I guess we're still trying to figure out what the conclusion to all of this is as well.