We had the wonderful opportunity to hang out in Disneyland last week. I didn’t post anything about my trip, because I’m always nervous to broadcast that type of information online. I prefer to mention our travels after we’ve returned home. While we were eating dinner last Monday night in the new Jolly Holiday restaurant (yummy!), my hubby got a call on his cell phone from our alarm company. They told my hubby that a motion sensor alarm had gone off in our house and once he told them we were out of town, they sent the police to check things out. We called our neighbor and he met the police at our house. We got the play by play on the phone from our neighbor and for awhile, they were all certain that a downstairs window was open and they were waiting to see if someone came out. Then as they got closer, they realized that the window was just really clean so it looked like it was open. Whew! I guess it’s good that my windows are that clean, but that gave us a fright. It was a terrible feeling sitting there on vacation and wondering if someone was in our house. The police inspected the outside of the house and determined that it was a false alarm. Our neighbor was very kind about the whole thing and he kept watch over our house while we were away. He did a lot to look out for our home and we felt lucky to have such a thoughtful neighbor.
This got me thinking about a scary experience I had when I was in 6th grade. I’m pretty sure I was 11 or 12 at the time and I was babysitting my neighbors after school. They were quite a bit younger than me and I would walk them home and tend them after school on a semi-regular basis because their Mom had gone back to college. As we walked through the front door, I was shocked to see how messy the place was. It took me a few minutes before I realized something was really wrong. There were dresser drawers turned upside down and clothing was strewn all over. It suddenly dawned on me that they had been robbed! I’m pretty sure we went over to my house at that point and had my Mom call the police. You think I would remember that part, but I don’t. I do remember going back over to their house later on with the kids once their Mom was home and the police had left. We saw the basement window where the thief (or thieves) had broken in and exited. It wasn’t until years later that it dawned on me how terrible it would have been if we had walked in while the robbery was taking place. Who knows, maybe the sound of us coming in sent them running? It’s too scary to think about. I’m just grateful that nothing more happened. Our neighbors did lose some of their physical treasures, but nothing too terrible. They also put bars on their basement windows and I always thought about that robbery when I saw those bars.
Those are pretty minor experiences in the grand scheme of things. I’ve been really lucky. I’ve had family members who have had their cars broken into and a few other minor issues. I have to admit that I’ve never thought to document them before. Sadly though, crime is a part of our existence and there are memories that relate to this topic. Do you have any experiences to document about being a victim of or witness to a crime? A Memory Monday is a good time to write them down.
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