Life, Luck, and Larceny

Wednesday morning, I was on the receiving end of what can only be called a rude awakening. My husband had to practically shake me out of an unusually sound sleep (which I really needed, by the way) to tell me that someone had broken into his car overnight and stolen his briefcase...or rather, rifled through its contents before throwing the rejected material, along with the case itself, on our front lawn. What was missing? The checkbook and credit cards, of course.

In his defense, I will say that my husband almost always puts his briefcase in the trunk of his car...and almost always parks said car in the garage. But this was one of those golden moments when circumstances combine in rather inglorious ways to produce disaster. And not only did the thieves make off with our personal information, but they broke the car window doing it.

Needless to say, we spent the entire morning closing/reopening checking accounts, calling credit card companies, placing his and hers fraud alerts with Equifax et al, and commiserating with our neighbors, 20 of whom were also hit. I couldn't help marveling at how this person or persons managed to do so much damage in so little time! Quite an impressive feat for the perpetrator(s). More on the depressive side of the spectrum for the rest of us.

Making matters worse was a day so full of obligations and commitments that I had no idea how to get them all accomplished. Instead of diving into my list at 8 AM sharp (as previously planned), I stumbled into it somewhere around half past noon. Adding insult to injury, after we'd spent the entire morning closing bank and credit accounts, around lunch time a neighbor lady brought two things to our door: the missing checks and the missing credit cards, both of which she spotted in her bushes while walking the dog. In other words, all of that frantic calling and canceling was for naught. Hurray. I guess.

Today I'm feeling more philosophical. All's well that ends well, right? (Though I did have to set aside several hours yesterday waiting for the Speedy Glass guy to come and fix the car window.) Scheduled to arrive at 11 AM, he finally made it by 3. Ironically, the reason he arrived late to our house was because my helpful husband, after making our own appointment, went up and down the street giving everyone the phone number. They all wound up scheduled for the same time we were. Not surprisingly, the repair truck entered our neighborhood on the "wrong" end of the street, putting our car second to last in the rotation. I barely made my hair appointment (canceled twice this month and sorely needed), but I did get there. Thank heaven for small favors! In fact, considering the state of my long, limp, lifeless locks before salon magic saved the day, this boon might even qualify as a tender mercy. Especially since I'll be front and center giving a talk in sacrament meeting this week.

(I haven't even started preparing it.)

Wish me luck!

;)