Friday, August 5, 2016

Camps & Thieves


 We got back from Cape Cod at 8pm on Sunday night and both kids were supposed to be ready to go to their chosen day camps by 8:15am  on Monday.  We had lunches to make, backpacks to fill, lists to check off, and medical releases to sign.  I managed to get Cal to the park and ride in time for the bus to the Girl Scout camp in Richmond and Hazen to Audubon camp in Huntington by 9am.  The trouble was, I forgot Hazen's backpack?!?!?  But, I was a free agent, so I drove home, put a load of laundry out to dry on the line, grabbed my running shoes, and headed back to Huntington.  I got Hazey's medical release and backpack to him and then went for a 40 minute run.  John called me on the way home and asked me to grab some items at the hardware store on the way home.

When I was pulling on to our road, I noticed a car pull out of a driveway rather fast right in front on me.  Someone threw trash out the window. It seemed odd.  When I pulled in to our driveway, I noticed some trash-- an empty carton or something.

I quickly unloaded some things from the car and went to turn on the oven to make lunch for a friend who was stopping by for lunch.  Some things seemed amiss.  The house was a wreck.  I knew we'd just gotten home and things hadn't been systematically unpacked, but our of the corner of my eye I saw an ice cream sandwich on the floor of the mud room.  It was still frozen.  Hmmmmmm, I thought. I ran upstairs and saw all sorts of drawers open and stuff thrown everywhere. Then it all clicked.  We'd been robbed.

I immediately got on the phone and dialed 911.  I told the operator that we'd been robbed.  She asked if someone had a gun to me.  I said, "no".  She corrected me and said, "then you've been burglarized".   She told me to get out of the house and wait for the police at the end of the driveway.

As I waited, I made some phone calls.  I also noticed that the carton at the bottom of the driveway was an ice cream sandwich carton (from our house).  Another thing I noticed was a teenager walking down our road with a skateboard.  She walked by three times..... as if waiting for someone.  Twenty minutes later, a police officer finally arrived.  I encouraged him to question the wandering woman.  I waited a little longer.  Then my friend showed up and we waited until the police could clear the house.

The thieves took our cameras and my jewelry box.  Nothing of much value, but a lot of sentimental value, for sure.  I keep wondering what would have happened if I'd come home 15 minutes earlier.  I am pretty sure, based on the temperature of the ice cream sandwich that I found on my floor, that they were there very recently.  A community member about a mile away was also burglarized.  Just such a bummer to feel unsafe and violated.

We didn't want to tell the kids.  We didn't want them to worry.  We wanted them to enjoy their innocence.




They both LOVED their camps.  Hazen hiked and played and explored.  Cally learned about being a girl scout and even opted to do the overnight campout.  I wasn't sure if she'd actually make it, but she did and she was really proud.


Summer is never complete without an evening swim at High Meadow with Scotty and Cynthia.  Fun catching miniature frogs.