Thanks for the memories

Someone broke into our house today.

Our home, the place where we feel safe.

In broad daylight.

They kicked in the back door and walked right into the place we call home.

They took their time, looking through our lives and touching our things.

They opened doors, walked into the place where I sleep every night and began taking what they deemed to be valuable.

What was junk, they let me keep.

Then, they left it just as they found it.

I am, for lack of a more eloquent term, pissed. I can't say that what they took from me was of any significant value in the end, but it's the principle of the concept that has me angry. How dare you destroy my property, come into my home and take things from me? I wonder if, when they pawn off the antique jewelry and things that I cannot replace, they know how old and precious they were to me. I'd question if they look into the eyes of the woman in that antique locket as they shoved it into a pocket or rubbed a finger over her initials carefully engraved into the back. Or, if they lovingly spun that big green stone ring around their finger like I did as they wait for the pawn shop to assess its value. Surely they'll know that diamond heart necklace was a gift from my husband on our first Valentine's Day together.

When it was all over, did they walk home wondering how much money they'd get for what they had taken? I wonder if they looked around for someone who might have seen them. Were they nervous? Did they yell at my sweet dog as she barked her heart out at them in her cage? Did they think they'd get caught? Did they watch me pull out of the driveway this morning, waiting for me to leave so they could arrive?

The Sheriff's deputy told me who they suspected entered our home. Suspected who entered our neighbor's home and did the same thing to him last week. Gave me their names. Showed me where they live, just on the other side of the field behind our home. Told me how they probably did it in between their stints in the County jail. Then, told me they couldn't pin anything on them. Said they were "kids in their twenties."

I couldn't help but notice the irony. I'm a kid too, also in my twenties--with a real job and aspirations and the decency to respect the property of others. I wonder if those idiot pieces of crap and I have anything else in common.