Security Loss

A year ago today my husband (then fiancé) and I laid down to sleep away November. We had no idea how much our lives would change the next day.

The following day began as normal as ever, with my husband leaving before the sun even rises. I got ready for my day just as I would any other day, put our dog in his room, and headed off to work.

Our world crashed down on us at 2 p.m. the afternoon of December 1st. My husband came home to find our week old entertainment center moved slightly, the Xbox one gone, and an off feeling. He set down his briefcase, then started walking to let the dog out to find the rest of our home in ruins. The back door kicked in and broken, muddy footprints everywhere, the bed flipped over, all the rooms ravaged. With his heart in his throat he started calling me, while willing that the dog was safe and our house was empty of thieves.

Cut to me, at work going about my day, when my phone rings. I’m a paraprofessional so my husband calling was weird, but I figured it was an accident and didn’t answer. When he called a second time, I knew something was wrong. I ran out of the classroom I was in and heard the words, “We were robbed. The house is a wreck, the police are on the way.”

With tears clouding my eyes, I immediately ran to find my classroom teacher and let her know that I had to go home. I barely remember making the drive home, only that I called my parents and left messages. My heart was barely beating. The only thing I could think was that my dog and husband were ok, everything else was just stuff. Knowing that someone had been in my home without my knowledge or permission absolutely killed me on the inside. It’s such a heart wrenching feeling to know that everything you had worked so hard for your whole life is now gone because someone did not want to work hard and get the exact same thing themselves.

I came home to find that not only had our entire home been gone through and so many of our possessions taken, but that the garage and our 240sx build had been the main target of the robbery. The car had just come back from the chassis shop after having a custom tube front built. We were 85 percent done and someone decided they could come in and just take everything. We gave up cars for a solid month, almost selling every last tool and car part we owned. Thankfully, one day we just looked at each other and said, no, we deserve to build this thing and make it even bigger and meaner than originally planned. The 2016 build was completed in a month. Take that thieves!

Having everything taken is a horrible feeling and coming back from it is not easy. We had completely lost our sense of security. I was terrified to leave my own home. What if something happened again? What if they came back? What if they wanted to cause harm the next time? My heart was racing with anxiety every time I heard the slightest noise. Every time the dog barked, I jumped clear out of my skin. Those low lives had not only taken our stuff but also our feeling of safety, our determination, our hope in humanity.

A year later and the cut is still fresh. We bought a security system the next day and anytime an alert comes across my phone screen, my heart skips a beat, never knowing if it just the wind, or the neighbor, or something worse. Sleeping on the final night of November will forever prove to be difficult as my anxiety will be through the roof. At least this time if they come back the cameras will be on and they stand a much, much higher chance of being caught. A year later and I still cringe when I think of December 1st.

 

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