On being burglarized....

So this past weekend was schizophrenic-moreso even than John Arbuckle from Garfield without Garfield. Last Thursday, I headed out with PAG, the PAGman (I refuse to call him Arms, Daisy), Scarlett, and Daisy for 4 days in the surf and sun. This was in celebration of PAG and PAGman's pending nuptials. A good time was had by all, and I had a great time meeting the friends of PAGman. Sadly, the day came to depart, and I was on an early morning flight. During my connection, the plane sat on the runway for 1.5 hours, so I arrived in Chicago much later than anticipated. As is my routine, I immediately turned on my cell phone upon reaching my final destination and checked my messages. I had 2, both from my brother.

8:30 AM: "Dude, just checking in to see what you are up to. Talk to you later."

9:30 AM: "Dude, you have to call me as soon as you get in. It is an emergency. It concerns your apartment."

My stomach immediately fell into the bottomless pit of despair. I immediately dialed my brother, fearing a) that my home had burned down and I was now homeless or b) that someone had broken into my apartment while I was away. Upon reaching my brother, I found that the correct answer was b). Someone had indeed broken into my apartment while I was away. My brother told me that someone had kicked in two doors and taken what he thought was the entire stack of my high end electronics.

The trip from the airport back to my apartment was the longest hour of the weekend.

When I arrived, I immediately took stock of the situation. I noted that the robbers had taken most of my electronics but had left others (no doubt due to my ingenious strategy of employing hopelessly entangled wires as a deterrent). I also noted that the robbers had not taken any of my dvds, blu-rays, or video game software. Strange indeed. My place was already a mess, as I had been traveling a lot over the previous 2 weeks, and i think that that might also have contributed to the robbers being unsuccessful. Upon completing my survey of the area, I immediately called 311 to report the burglary. I expected maybe one officer to show up. Instead, 10 officers descended upon my home. The cynic in me noted that this might not have been the case if I lived in one of the more distressed areas of Chicago. Burglary is not an everyday occurrence in my neighborhood. What followed was more humorous exchanges as I slowly started my recovery from the initial shock.

Officer: "Wow..this place is a mess. They did all this, huh? They really did a number on you."
Me (too embarassed to admit that much of the mess existed before the robbery): "Yeah..those bastards..."

Officer: "Why did they only take 2 of the video game systems?"
Me: "I dunno..perhaps they were Sony fans?"

Officer (in answer to a description I gave of something that was stolen): "Excuse me??"
Me (sheepishly): "A replica Darth Vader light sabre handle made of machined metal, a limited edition in a lucite case made by Master Replicas that retails for $350.00."
Officer: "Ooooo-kay...."

Officer: "The burglar left a jacket here?"
Me: "Yes, he only needed one. He took my leather jacket."
Officer: "Score."

PAGman text to me (because I called him several times upon arriving at my home): In a movie. Is everything all right?
My text to PAGman (still in Florida): My home was burglarized while I was in Florida. Oh, and I left my iPod charger in the hotel room. Holla.

All in all, the final tally of damage was around $7,000, with most of that coming from the theft of a laptop. Thankfully, I have renters insurance, and I cannot recommend it enough to those of you who may not be investing that $10 or so a month. It is totally worth it. I think that the most irritating thing of all is having the knowledge that strangers were walking around my home with their filthy street shoes looking through my stuff (as if anyone REALLY keeps cash at home anymore).

I also learned something else, about myself, from this experience. All of my life, my parents have placed a lot of emphasis on material success in life as a measure of one's success. I was worried that I was becoming, like them, too attached to the power of money. The love of money is the root of all evil, and I feared that I was falling into that abyss. Being a victim of burglary allowed me to take stock in what was truly important. I mean, my home was not burned down and I am not homeless. No one is hurt. I went from being angry at the individuals who did this to feeling kinda sorry for them. I am indeed fortunate that I have never had to steal. I hope to never be placed in that position. In my minds eye, I hope that the individuals who stole from me did so because they had no other recourse. This is highly unlikely, but I still pity someone who has to steal from another.

Finally, I learned that I had the best friends in the world. Missy, Daisy, PAGman, PAG, Scarlett, and a whole bevy of other friends offered their condolences and offers of aid and showed me that our friendships were not just mere acquaintances. I knew this to be the case long before the burglary, but I must admit to being deeply affected by the outpouring of support provided by these friends. As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I feel as if I am truly wealthy when it comes to the riches of my friends. So here is a shout out to all of you who have helped me through this.

Now all I need to do is figure out why someone would steal a Comcast cable box....