<p>Hope this weekend is being nicer to most CCrs than it has been to DD and me. We traveled “down home” (my home town) this weekend to meet up with my family for a hs basketball game. Game was packed. Left purses in the car. When we left, we found window smashed, purses gone and are still trying to weigh out who made the biggest mistake, us or the thieves. But man do I need my dateminder back!!! Anyway- this is certainly the first time anything like this has ever happened to us and I guess before she goes away to school it might make her rethink how careful she is in any given situation. My spirit is broken and I really want my stuff back!!! DD is devastated because she had a small spiral notebook in her purse that contained famous and funny quotes from FOUR years of high school…things kids, teachers or I had said that were really either high brow funny or low brow disgusting…the book can’t be replaced but it was a legendary text over at the high school. I am sorry for her because I believe it was something that she would have taken to a 20 year reunion and gotten a lot of laughs. Ah well… anyway…be sure that you have a file somewhere with not just credit card acct. numbers and theft hotlines, but also a list of the contents of your billfold/wallet…AAA card, medical insurance cards, etc.- as well as a list of sources of direct dep. to checking and autodebit from checking…needless to say, it has been a busy and somewhat emotional weekend.</p>
<p>Sympathies. So disappointing to have this happen in your home town. What a loss. You may get lucky, as it is not uncommon for the purse itself to be abandoned somewhere and found with contents intact but $$ and credit cards gone. Fingers crosssed for you.</p>
<p>Times are, unfortunately, changing. I have always left my purse in the car in this small town. But starting this year, “professional” thieves are targeting venues where they know this would be common - gyms, pools etc. One more nail in the coffin of simpler, kinder times.</p>
<p>I’m so sorry to hear this, momnipotent. What a violation of human decency - and your own sense of security. I hope your belongings are found, particularly your daughter’s notebook. My d experienced something like this last year on her second day in her first “real” job - she’d left her purse in her office and returned to find that her cash and ipod had been stolen. She was devastated. I guess none of us wants to believe we live in that world. So sorry for your misfortune.</p>
<p>my purse was actually stolen from out of my car in my driveway, and as we walked around the block, we found everything, including credit cards, debit cards, everything but the actual purse and the 8 bucks that were in there</p>
<p>MNP - That is so heartbreaking! And I do hope many of your belongings will be retrieved, & even your spirit once the initial shock has passed! Maybe your D’s friends & classmates can help her start a new book, tho, of course, it might never be a good as the original…</p>
<p>
momnipotent~</p>
<p>Oh, honey, I can only imagine how very violated and sickened both you and your daughter feel as a result of this hideously intrusive act. And you are right…the things which are irreplaceable are that much more devastating to lose. My heart goes out to you both but especially to your sweet daughter who has lost something so precious and special to her. I am sooooooooooooo sorry that what SHOULD have been such a fun and exciting event had to be turned into something so unpleasant, frightening, and painful. I so hope that, against all odds, your things are found and returned to you both. Hang in there…</p>
<p>{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}</p>
<p>love, ~berurah</p>
<p>My grandma’s purse was stolen about a month ago. So picture this–my grandma (in her 80’s) was staying after mass (she goes every day for seven o’clock mass) to help clean the church. She put her purse down to clean, and someone stole it. Stealing from an elderly woman is bad enough, but an elderly woman volunteering to clean a church?</p>
<p>I know how you feel- I left my purse taht I thought was out of sight for 5 minutes in my daughters high school parking lot. I went up to the 2nd floor, slid something underneath her counselors door and went right back to my car.
They broke the drivers side window- funny thing I have a car alarm, but apparently if you break the window it doesn’t go off!
My purse with my palm pilot, wallet, checkbook, medicine and cell phone were all taken. Within minutes the thieves were using my cards to buy 3 tanks of gas and using my phone to make long distance phone calls- I was really ****ed about my phone because I had pictures on there that I didnt have anywhere else ( like my husbands 50th bd dinner)
Such a PITA to replace everything.</p>
<p>I am sooo sorry. First, for the total hassle of replacing those items. But sorry even more because of the sense of feeling violated. That part is worse. You guys are OK and nothing worse happened and you know that. But there still is a sense of someone doing that to you. That’s the part that is hard really. Plus when something like her notebook was taken, which means nothing to anyone else but her, and how senseless. </p>
<p>I’ve had a few things like that happen to me. I’ll just mention two. One was before I had kids but we were already living in Vermont but in a different house than we live at now but still very rural on a dirt road where nobody ever passes by or anything. Like so many, we did not lock the door (we do now!). I went out of town overnight and my husband went to a day long seminar. When he came home, he could tell we had been robbed. It was a bizarre robbery. Most of the valuables were all intact. Instead, the person(s) took practical items. For instance, they took the vacuum cleaner. They took the dinner sized plates of our every day dishes. Didn’t touch the sterling. Took a few winter coats. Left all the expensive ski equipment but took hubby’s new hiking boots and also in the foyer was a bag of wrapped gifts his parents had given us for the upcoming holidays, still unopened, that they took. For me, the worst material thing they took was they grabbed my backpack. While it did have a camera in it, the irreplaceable part for me was that all of my work was in this backpack. I was an elementary school teacher who did a LOT of work outside the classroom for hours each weekend and brought all these files back and forth in my backpack…all my plans, narratives I had written on every child quarterly, just everything. I didn’t even realize it was missing until I got up the next day to go to work. When I discovered by bag was also taken, I was just devastated and it set me back in a huge way, having to recreate everything, and I just had to take the day off. Those files and plans meant nothing to anyone else. And then, the feeling of someone going shopping in my house was a sense of violation. Maybe they needed the stuff more than I did. </p>
<p>About a year and half ago, when I was on vacation with my husband, in the Caribean on an island that is not built up, we went as we often do, to a secluded beach because nobody was on it. We had a rental car. After our time on the beach, we went back to the car and someone had thrown a brick through the passenger side window and there were millions of pieces of shattered glass in the car. There was nothing in the car to steal. I knew we were lucky that whoever did this, considering we were not in shouting distance of anybody or anything, didn’t come after us. This is an island with very little crime. Again, there is that feeling of a person violating another person. I really question the humanity of some people. </p>
<p>The good news is that things are replaceable and you aren’t. It could always be worse. The other good news is that for each person who does these sorts of acts, there are many more who make you believe in the good in the world…the people who reach out to help, to give the shirt off their backs, rather than to take the ones off your back. </p>
<p>Hugs to you…here is to a brighter time ahead. I guess I should think twice about locking my pocketbook in my car which I often do. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>I am so sorry! I know that most of us have had something similar happen to us or someone we know. The worst part seems to be the sense of violation, of ending that feeling of comfort in the places we go to regularly and live. This, too, shall eventually end. It is so sad that we can’t trust others the way we should be able to. My heart goes out to you as I understand completely.</p>
<p>I know this is a disorienting experience that has left you feeling so vulnerable; personal “things” that reflected your lives, especially your D’s notebook, are missing. Fortunately, most of these things can be replaced. Perhaps you and your D can try and recall some of the moments in the notebook, at least paraphasing the written comments. I am just glad that this was a “smash and grab” and not a confrontational assault along with the robbery. Still, I, too, am sorry this has happened to both of you. My mom was robbed in a movie theater 20 years ago, when she was in her 60’s. Only, in her case, a group of 5-7 teenagers shoved her, knocking her down, and grabbed her purse while other theater-goers simply looked the other way and avoided getting involved. Sad that things like this happen at all!!</p>
<p>momnipotent…so very sorry…every violation like this damages ones sense of innocence and safety. you are wise to at least wonder if it will help your child not feel well…omnipotent ! when she flies the coop and is on her own and perhaps might be tempted to let her guard down. Otherwise, this experience is for the dogs…no, forget that…the dogs deserve better! Be safe and well, what a totally upsetting event.</p>
<p>So sorry about your loss. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly frequent that folks ARE being the targets of burglaries and robberies & it does indeed make you feel so violated!</p>
<p>Please put a FRAUD ALERT on your account with each of the credit bureaus so that the creditors will have to call you before making any changes to your account (like changing your address, opening new accounts, etc.) It’s a good idea for anyone who has had any ID stolen from them to do. I will require the company to call your home that you list in your letter for approval before allowing any changes to be made or accounts to be openned.</p>
<p>Contact each credit bureau to protect yourselves:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.identitytheft.org/prncredit.htm[/url]”>http://www.identitytheft.org/prncredit.htm</a></p>
<p>More info about identity theft is at this webpage:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.identitytheft.org/[/url]”>http://www.identitytheft.org/</a></p>
<p>Good luck–thanks for reminding me NOT to leave my purse in my vehicle, under any circumstances. I think I’ll just leave it at a friend’s home instead (tougher target than unattended car).
<sigh></sigh></p>
<p>Another so “so very sorry” here. I feel particularly bad about your D’s note book. We were once burglarized and the thing I missed most was a coin bank, a large ceramic “rabbit coming out of a hat” that was a present from an old friend. The sentimental attachment outweighed everything else and I’m sure the punk kids (we had an idea of who) probably just smashed it to get at the money.</p>
<p>Yeah, the thing that saddened us most when our home was burglarized was they stole all the jewelry hubby’s mom had given us before she died, so it had sentimental value (not sure how much “fenced” value it had, probably not all that much). It made us feel very “violated” & made it hard for us to sleep for quite some time afterwards.</p>
<p>Our neighbors have been burgled about 6+ times. Last time, they used a tool that just took off the front doorknob entirely! Among other things, they stole the daughter’s wooden bowl which was awarded to her by the school & had great sentimental value (tho hardly any monetary value). They also stole some decorated EGGS (no, they weren’t Fabrege ones, but had sentimental value to the owners). It made our neighbors SO upset that they’ve considered moving! <sigh></sigh></p>
<p>Sometimes, they just dump what they decide they don’t want nearby where they stole the items, so you may wish to alert the school where the theft took place so if the items are found they can be returned to you. Once my car was broken into & they stole my canvas bag with my notes. When they realized it just contained notes, they abandonned it in a neighbor’s yard, they called the cops who returned the items to me. (Of course, the thieves kept the coins they scrounged from the car.)</p>
<p>momnipotent:
That stinks! Hope you can replace your important stuff without too much trouble. Darn.</p>
<p>I lost my wallet on a trip through the Madrid subway. I lost my credit cards and the robbers had a holiday using them for months…I finally recooped my losses, driver’s license etc. But I lost my membership to “The I Don’t Give a Da…mn Club.” I could have used the poem on the backside of the card on that fateful day. I can look at it through a different lens now. But my heart goes out to everyone in that most unenviable of positions when it happens. Sorry…: (</p>
<p>Ohh, I do feel for you, particularly re the notebook. Perhaps, if a name was in the notebook, it may eventually still find its way back. Do let us know if this happens.</p>
<p>I was burglarized once when living in my newlywed apartment outisde NYC. There was a run of apparently insider (maintenance staff had master keys) burglaries in our building. The woman above us had recently had her sterling silver tea set taken – nothing else disturbed. </p>
<p>One Saturday my H and I were preparing to go out to a dinner party and I went to take a pin out of my small cloth jewelry case. I use hardly any jewelry so rarely went into the case. It was only then that I realized that the case was missing from its place on my dresser! Nothing else was at all disturbed.</p>
<p>The loss was heavily sentimental. My great-grandmother’s engagement and wedding rings were in that case, as were my high school and college rings. The value of these items was much more in the personal sentiment than what they could bring on any market.</p>
<p>I never told my grandparents about the loss of the rings they had passed on to me, as I saw no point in giving them that pain. They had given them to my H and me when we became engaged, as he was a poor grad student at the time, and they offered us the rings so we could use the diamond engagement ring for my engagement ring, which I did. But as I say, I rarely wear jewelry so it was in the case most of the time. The wedding ring was engraved with the date of my great-grandparents’ wedding date back in the 1800s. (We never used that, as we had our own wedding rings made, but it had great family sentimental value for me.) I told my grandparents my finger had gotten too fat for the ring, and that we would eventually have it resized. </p>
<p>As for purses, I actually deserve to lose them more than I do. I frequently leave my purse in my car when I am working at a school; I just put it on the passenger side floor and cover it up by spreading out over it some of the newspapers I always carry in the car for “free moment” catchup reading! Have never had it taken and I used to do this even when I taught in inner-city Philadelphia! </p>
<p>I now live in the Philly suburbs and often leave my purse in the child seat of the cart when I grocery shop. (Yes, a terrible habit!) Several times I have loaded the groceries in the car and returned the cart to the station, hopped into the car, and driven home. (I tend to place the car keys in my jacket pocket so I don’t have to search through the purse for them.) On about five occasions so far over the years, I have arrived home only to realize I left the purse sitting in the child seat of the cart! On EACH of those occasions the purse was returned to me intact!! (Once I got a call from another shopper, other times store staff has found it and held it for me at the store, and twice the purse was sitting there in the cart when I dashed back to retrieve it!) I do not deserve such outcomes, but am grateful for them, and have written several nice letters to the grocery store commending their staff for their honesty.</p>
<p>How horrible!!! I’m so sorry. The things those people wanted are probably the things that matter the least to you … credit cards, etc. that can all be canceled. It’s the meaningful things (the notebook, your dateminder), I’m sure, that hurt so much! What could they possibly do with such a thing? Nothing except toss it. Of course criminals are not going to take the time to go through purses, pulling out only the items they consider to be valuable, but it would be nice if they did. Having experienced this myself, I know how painful it is and how violated you feel. I’m truly sorry for you.</p>
<p>momnipotent</p>
<p>So sorry! I read your post last night before I left to go watch a hs basketball game. I have a habit of leaving my wallet in the car, in a door pouch which stupidly renders the wallet visible, because I don’t want the feeling of it in my pocket while sitting in the bleachers.</p>
<p>Well I took the wallet with me and will (not just bbgames!) from now on, so thanks for the wake up call.</p>
<p>Just a suggestion (I don’t know if someone’s mentioned it)…perhaps your daughter can sit down, try to remember as much as she can from her cherished notebook, and write it down…as time goes on she’ll remember less. Also (sadly) a good time for her to start a NEW one. </p>
<p>I do hope your purses show up.</p>