Gone and Recovered

A few days ago, I wrote that there have been some highs and lows in our life. I mentioned that my car had been STOLEN right out of our driveway. It was a BIG DEAL and I did not have time to write out the details at that time. Now, I am taking time to get in in writing and share.
Yep, last Saturday morning, Ron came in and asked me where my car was. It was not in the driveway. We are still moving in so our garage does not have space for our cars at this point. The only place I park my car is in the driveway. It is a TERRIBLE feeling to realize your car has been stolen. It is invasive, creepy, and unsettling.
As best we can tell, some thugs got into Ron's car and as they were searching for things to steal, they found his set of spare keys, which had my car key on the ring. As soon as they found that key, it was like Christmas coming early. They had a car and 3/4 tank of gas so off they went. PLUS, they had garage remote controls for this house and our house in Wellington and so much more.
We were not very careful about what we left in the car that night. We got in late, we were tired and had big plans for cleaning the car inside and out the next morning. Lesson learned.
Before they left, they went in our garage and stole a few very random items, including our bathroom scales, a drill, and a gun. Maybe more, but we have not realized it yet.
NO WE DID NOT HEAR THEM.
The night before, we had been at a Church Dinner, which I used my fall decorations for. I had 3 large tubs in the car, some were sentimental, some were irreplaceable and now 30 years of my fall decoration collection was gone. Oh well, it is just "stuff" but I liked that "stuff".
There were school books, music books, shoes, sunpass, GPS, CD's, DVDs, Katherine's phone and wallet with $90 she was saving to buy Christmas for someone who is not going to have much for Christmas.
This list goes on and on.
All weekend was spent securing our home and property, changing locks, codes, and inventorying the mess in our garage the best we could.
Monday morning, while Megan was in surgery to have her broken nose repaired (yes we have a little bit going on), Ron sent me a note saying the police had recovered my car but no details yet.
Details came soon, it was stripped, stripped, stripped of anything that could be sold, tires, wheels, DVD player, remotes, sunpass, GPS, etc. All of our personal items were gone gone gone.
Later in the day, Ron had a strong feeling that he need to go to the site where our car was left. The police would not tell him where, but the tow truck service gave him the address. It was in a vacant field a few miles away from our home.
Lo and behold, he drove to the site and at first did not see anything, then off in a distant empty field, he saw one of the tubs that our fall decorations are stored in. Soon, he had ALL of my fall decorations, ALL of Katherine's school and music papers,and  ALL of the shoes (5 pairs) left behind.
Anything that can be replaced was gone gone gone.
Anything that could never be replaced was recovered.
At this point, our Insurance company says all can be repaired or replaced. If this is the case, it will be a blessing as we do not want to spend money on a new car right now while we still own 2 homes.
Yes, this is a horrible thing to happen. It is creepy all the way. Yet, it could have been so much worse. So much worse. We were protected. They took one of our guns from the garage-they could have come inside our house and used it.
I have had a few people say, maybe you should have not moved to West Palm Beach from Wellington. I quickly tell them that my neighbor's car in our gated Wellington community was stolen from their driveway. This happens everywhere. No place is totally safe. The police told us they never come in our neighborhood for much more than false alarms. We feel as safe here as we did in Wellington. We live in a small gated community with excellent security. it is just that if someone tried hard enough, they are going to get in. We think they came in on foot and then drove away in our car. Nothing suspicious about that.
Oh, and then there is the fact that someone broke into our house in Wellington and was there waiting for me when I returned home. Crime is everywhere.
Yes, this is a horrible thing, a very low low experience, but there have been silver linings to this dark cloud. We were and continue to be blessed. This was a reminder for us to be smarter in our choices and cautious in our daily travels. This was also a great big push toward getting the garage unpacked and organized. When that car returns, after being repaired and sanitized, it will go in the garage. Yes it will.
There is still so much more good in our lives than bad. Even with an experience like this, I say, life is very good.