last night

Usually I can think of a clever zinger or hook to start these things, but for some reason today one is eluding me. So let’s start with the headline: Religion Teacher’s Apartment Burglarized: Only Losses are Gifts from Dead People.

I can only imagine how disappointed our intrepid thief was as he or she rifled through old shoeboxes filled with cards from my mom, old pairs of glasses, stacks of headshots, useless keys. Searching for ipods and flatscreens, what he or she found were an old “boom box” and a 15 year old TV with bunny ears.

So what do you take from the girl who has very little? The handful of jewelry she keeps on top of her dresser. They’re just things, I keep telling myself. But there are reasons we become attached to things. They remind us of people who gave them to us, of times in our lives, of memories. The only jewelry I had were items that had been with me for what feels like forever.

That silly red box (on top of a piece of furniture which is worth more money than anything else in the house) held the Christmas morning I got my cross in my stocking and the 10 years that I wore it every day. It held my high school ring dance, and the weeks of having classmates turn my ring 98 times. It held a student’s parent telling me that graduation mass was the most beautiful mass she had ever attended and that she wanted to give me a thank you. It held singing at the wedding of friends (and laughing over the fact that they also gave me earrings even though my ears aren’t pierced). It held birthday after birthday of little gold boxes from Lux Bond & Green and trips to the jeweler to have the pearls added to my necklace. It held a high school friend telling me that a rosary ring had made him think of me, just before he told me it only cost a dime.

They took my camera, off of which I had already downloaded the pictures from Italy. They took an old wallet (which they probably thought was a big score – hope they enjoy my DSW Rewards Card).

What initially tipped me off that the unlocked door wasn’t a random thing was that I couldn’t find my phone charger. I have been using a hand-me-down phone with a weak battery, so I knew I would have to go back to using the cheap Best Buy phone I had been using before. Except they took that phone (which explains why they took the charger). Way to go dummy, now you have a $15 phone and a charger that doesn’t go with it. Thanks for ruining my day.

The officers who came were very nice and told me where the local pawn shops are. When I told them that I had renters insurance they were astonished. Apparently no one they ask ever has it. I called the family to commiserate (sorry to upset you guys so late at night!) At that point I needed to hit the hay. I don’t know what made me think that I would just be able to go to sleep, but half an hour later I was still wide-eyed and shaking. I’ll blame it on the cold.

So I got up and watched Conan. And rifled through all of my drawers to make sure my passport and old credit card were still there. They were.