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mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
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Lindsay Metcalf
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
When that tornado siren sounds, I'm in the basement
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"Okay," my Facebook status said on October 25th. "We're home with our new-to-us car! How long will it be before the new car smell is replaced with the old milk and french fry smell?"
It was a clever status. People "like"ed it. My friend Mel, who lives around the corner from us, posted her reply. "I was wondering how long before spray paint or a busted window."
I live in KCMO. As a matter of fact, I live in a part of KCMO that has a bad reputation. I always say, if you're going to live in a city, you have to understand that there's going to be crime. In our neighborhood, however, people aren't afraid to spray paint someone else's property or smash someone's car window to take a few things.
I've lived in the Kansas City area for going on seventeen years, now. Eight of those years have been in the so-called "unsafe" neighborhoods of Hyde Park and the Northeast. I like it here. I feel safe. In fact, I've had my car broken into once, and that was in Shawnee, Kansas, miles from where I am now. Mel's comment was funny, and I thought about her when my husband Mitch came inside and told me someone had tried to steal our new van.
You read that right. Someone tried to steal our new-to-us car, before the old milk smell even had a chance to take hold.
"It won't start," he told me. I ran out to the van and hopped into the driver's seat, putting the key in the ignition. It wouldn't start. The cover was torn off of the stearing column and a wire was sticking out from under the ignition, which was dented itself.
I got back out of the car and Mitch got back in. "At least they didn't take anything," he said. I told him there was nothing to take except the carseat. At that comment, a flash of panic went across his face and he lunged for the glove box, opening it in a hurry.
"Damn!" he said. "Marc's birthday present was in there!"
Marc and Mitch had a new hobby they were doing together. They had learned how to solder at the Maker Faire at Union Station this past summer, and they had been buying kits to solder. This one Mitch got him was forty bucks at Radio Shack. It was replacable, but the thought that someone stole my little boy's birthday present that his stepfather picked out especially for him was disheartening. Whoever took it would only get ten bucks for it at the most.
To me, that was more upsetting than our car almost getting stolen.
I called the police and made a report. Officers came out to retrive a box of junk the theif left in our vehicle. Mitch's dad came out and helped get our car running again. A few hours later while we were shopping for Marc's birthday presents, Mitch made an observation.
"Have you noticed that in the past few months things have happened to us that were bad, but could have been worse?" he asked.
I thought about it, and he's right. I was just in a car accident that totalled our car, and I walked away with only some whiplash and ended up in a better vehicle and lower insurance rate. Someone tried to steal our van, but thanks to the anti-theft device they didn't and neither did they do any major damage to the vehicle.
And I almost forgot until Mitch reminded me, but someone tried to steal our other car a few months ago and failed. There was no damage whatsoever, and we only knew someone had tried to steal it because the ignition cover was on the floor and the steering column was scarred.
After he said that, I started to think about other things. Life is hard, and sometimes it's easy to dwell on how hard it is. I have a chronic illness, for instance. But my bad days are a lot like some people's good days who have my same ailment. I spent years in college getting a degree and am now making less money than I did before I started college. But I'm making as much money as I need for our family with only a part time job.
Someone tried to steal our car, but they didn't steal our car. Attempted theft is the cloud. Still having our car is the silver lining. If I look around, I can find other clouds: my health, my income status, my messy house. If I look hard enough, I can find silver linings there, too.
How about you? Do you have clouds? Do they have linings? Sometimes the linings are hard to find, but they're there. Thanks to my wonderful husband for reminding me!
I'm sorry your car was broken into and Marc's gift taken. I love that you see the positives in it, though. I love that it doesn't make you frightened. Because if it did, the thieves would have gotten away with something far more valuable than a soldering iron. Hugs, my friend.I am glad that the thieves didn't get away with your car. Years ago I had two cars stolen, one from downtown and the other from the parking lot of my midtown apartment. I wasn't fearful living there, I loved it like you did. But I think I was more angry at the situations. You are strong lady, Val. You can find the silver linings in your clouds, which is perhaps one of the hardest things to do.I've had my car broken into twice, both times where they broke the glass. The first time, they took my car stereo and some personal items, in the parking garage of my place of employment. I was very upset by that. The second time, just the window was shattered. But, I was mad and had to make arrangements both times, for my window to be replaced. I didn't report it to insurance either time, since the deductible is more than the replacement cost of the window. But, it still stinks. I'm glad no one was hurt and that you have everything straightened out. You have a great attitude, Val! I know there are silver linings everywhere, and sometimes we just don't appreciate them enough!
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