The Fallout Continues
Now I’m really mad. We finished up going through the house today, straightening as we went. Finished up in the room that was trashed the worst — my bedroom. The thieves literally yanked all the drawers open and scattered things all over the room. Mom and Grandmom came over to help me face that mess — I just couldn’t do it alone.
They stole a lot of perfume, including one brand-new bottle that was supposed to be a donation for a charity silent auction tomorrow night. But the thing that makes me the maddest is two pieces of jewelry that they stole. Most of my best jewelry is in the box here at my mother’s house, or in the safe (also at Mom’s). These two pieces are ones I seldom wear, but they have tremendous sentimental value.
The first was an emerald and diamond shamrock brooch that my brother bought for me in the airport in Shannon, Ireland, when he was on his way to Russia to teach in the schools. It was very pretty, and the fact that he thought of me when he was there made it ever so special to me.
The other was a mother-of-pearl dove-shaped brooch from Bethlehem, given to my by my former piano teacher when she returned from a trip to the Holy Land about 25 years ago.
Neither can be replaced. My brother’s firmly state-side now, and even if I got an identical brooch, it wouldn’t have the same memories attached to it. And my former piano teacher died six years ago.
It just makes me mad. What’s puzzling is that they missed my really valuable jewelry. My sterling silver Tiffany teardrop cross pendant was on the floor with a couple dozen sterling silver chains. And several 14 and 24 kt. gold items were left as well. And they left my malachite bead necklace, but took my matching malachite and silver earrings.
Other puzzling things that were taken: a bag of paper plates, plastic utensils, and plastic cups. A box of drinking glasses in assorted sizes. The bamboo spice box, with 36 jars of spices. They took a very heavy box full of cast iron cooking pans (skillets, dutch oven, cornbread pans, etc.), but they left the Revereware soup pot which was still in its original packaging. And I still cannot figure out the cheesecloth.
Anyway. The worst of it’s over. The mess is cleared away, and we can begin to put the house together again. And I have brought all of my financial records over to Mom’s so that I can start filling out the insurance forms. They want to know when I acquired things and from what store and how much they cost when I bought them. Sigh. That’s gonna be a long job! Especially since the 2005 file is missing. I’m hoping I’ll be able to find it. I hope they didn’t take it with them. Not that it would do them any good at all. All of the accounts in that file are now closed.