Proximity

Jack,

This morning, I took you to daycare. It was a snowy day like many we've been having lately. We drove slowly to drop you off and, like I do on cold days like this, I left the car running while I took you inside.

All the Moms do it. You run in to drop your little one off as a step in the routine of heading to work in the morning and you leave the car running because you are going to be out in such a quick amount of time, and it's cold, and with all the other parents around you figure - nothing is going to happen.... right?

Well, I dropped you off and headed back out to the car. Our separation that morning had gone SO well that I immediately reached over to the floorboard of the passenger seat to retrieve my cell phone from my purse, and my purse wasn't there.

Wierd how one acts when they simply can't conceive of what might have happened. There must be another explanation. I searched through the whole car, even UNDER the seats as though it might have rolled under there without my noticing.... yeah, right....

I went back into the school, now completely sure I had been robbed, but needing to retrace my steps before I was sure. I retraced my steps.

Now I was sure.

Someone had watched me take you out of your carseat and gone inside with you and then they had gone into our car and stolen my purse. Right in front of your daycare.

I called the police who came out to the daycare and proceeded to tell me how incredibly commonplace this type of crime is. That Moms are such easy targets at schools and daycares at drop off times because they do the same thing that I did and they are usually so focused on the morning routine and getting their little one where they need to be, that they don't notice what is taking place right behind their backs. Or even in front of the other parents - who were too engaged with their own morning routines to notice either.

So, I went into work after filing the report and burst into tears. My boss sent me home and I went there to cancel my credit cards, my bank account and start the process of getting things back in order.

It's going to be a long road. The bank account was setup for auto payment of most of our bills and we had auto-deposit of our checks right into our checking account. Now the checking account is closed and checks are bouncing and I don't know how long it's going to take for us to get it all back on track. And I feel so stupid because if I'd just been a little more careful....

I called the credit card company and they were able to confirm that the thief has used my card at several locations as well as trying to buy hundreds of dollars of electronics equipment at a local WalMart. The card had declined there because, by then, I had reported it stolen.

The police went out and obtained a tape of the guy, but he was wearing a black hoodie up over his head so aside from the fact that they could tell he was African American, there was nothing else they could determine from the tape.

The chances are, they won't catch him.

What disturbs me more than the inconveniences posed by this, the charges I'll have to dispute, the fees to be paid, the new identification and insurance and other cards to be reissued, and all the minutia - is the close proximity of this crime to YOU.

That terrifies me - even if all you served for that criminal was a distraction to me - it was TOO CLOSE to you. It makes me want to pay the GD place to put a camera on the front door and the parking lot so there is NO CHANCE that anyone would come that close to you again with any kind of intention that was less than honorable.

I'd like to find that guy and kick him right in his bollucks (as my man, Gordon Ramsey, would say...).

Love,

Mommy