Robbed, I Tell You

My Life

So. What can I say about being burglarized that’s constructive?

Well, first off, none of us were hurt. The thief broke in in the middle of the day, and we all (oddly) happened to be gone. So the burglar got our stuff, but the baby is safe. It makes me feel better just to type that, actually. Isn’t it nicer when you don’t have to attack a guy climbing in your apartment window while the baby looks on? I think so.

Fortunately, our sentimental things are mostly not expensive things, but this whole robbery gig is starting to feel personal. As you may remember, in December, someone stole my purse while we were in Argentina. The car’s been broken into a couple of times in the last year (always in different neighborhoods), and Bryan had his bike stolen from a coffee shop near his office a couple months ago. Whee!

However, having a baddie inside the house is a whole new level of yuck. Seeing all our drawers dumped out on the bed, waiting for the police to come take fingerprints, noticing one thing is gone, and then another, all day long. It’s gross. It makes me want to give the whole apartment a shower.

Anyway, we’re fine, but shaken. For the next few days I’m going to try not to cry when someone cuts me off in traffic or is curt to me as I’m ordering coffee, and then we’ll see how it goes.

Thanks to everyone who Twittered their concern. You guys keep proving how nice you are, and that is why I like you.

Published

101 thoughts on “Robbed, I Tell You”

  2. It horrible isn’t it? When our home was broken into the thief ate a piece of birthday cake. Who does that?

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  3. oh, how utterly foul. I’m so sorry to hear this. I’d say cry whenever and for whatever spurious reason that comes along right now. Being burgled must feel like such a personal violation. Very glad you’re all safe and sound.

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  4. For the love of Pete!!! After all those robberies I think your only option is to move here to Canada. We’ll change our name from the Royal City to the Mighty City and we’ll keep you safe!!!!

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  5. Ugh…This sucks! The same thing happened to us a few years ago. They had even left a pile of stuff by the door so they could come back for more. Oddly enough I was more concerned that they had scrubbed their butts with my toothbrush or had been drinking straight from the milk carton then the stuff they had taken.

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  6. So sorry that this happened to you. About 2 years ago a guy broke in to my house through an exterior laundry room. He literally busted out the drywall & crawled into my dining room at 1 in the afternoon. Thankfully, I wasn’t home, but just the thought that I could have been there in the shower or something haunted me for a while. It was a crazy, eye-opening experience. fortunately, he was caught about 4 months later. Glad to hear you & your family are safe.

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  8. Yikes, that blows. I remember when I was like six our house got burgled when no one was home. (My mom walked in, realized someone else had been there, grabbed the cat, and went next door to call the cops.) You’re right, it is an icky feeling to have someone else invade your privacy. Hope the baristas are kind to you this week.

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  9. That is totally craptastitic. Do your best to keep your head and we are happy to hear that you are all safe.

    Thank you.

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  11. Maggie,

    I am so so sorry. But I am glad that you and your family are okay. I hope the creepies go away asap.

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  12. I just wanted to say that I’m really, really sorry. That just sucks.
    I’m glad you and your family are ok.

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  13. Makes me think of that recent post in which you described a strange readiness to defend yourself and baby with a broken bottle if necessary. So glad your maternal fierceness was not tested. But man, that blows.

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  14. I think it was the second time my apartment was robbed that, as I sat in the middle of the floor sobbing, the radio started to play the Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” That made me feel, oh, not better exactly, but shifted my brain.

    It does just simply suck.

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  15. So very sorry you had to go through that, but so very glad all of you are safe. I’ll share two stories with you – hope they help.

    When my husband was eight years old, some creep broke in on Christmas Eve when everyone was sleeping and took all the presents. And the worst part was, there wasn’t exactly much to take since his father had recently been laid-off at work. I want to cry everytime I think about what it must have been like, to wake up on Christmas Day completely heartbroken.

    Before I was born, another jerk robbed my mom and dad. My mom was home alone with my oldest brother, probably Hank’s age at the time. She told me that she sensed that someone was in the house, so she picked up the baby, quietly went out the front door and walked quickly to a neighbor’s house where she called the police. The thief had entered through the back door and ransacked my parent’s bedroom. The two things stolen were my mother’s jewelry (grandma’s engagement ring) and a small box that my dad kept in on the top shelf of the closet. The thief probably thought it contained money, so they grabbed it and left. Instead, the box contained my dad’s honorable discharge papers (he served in WWII), his ribbons and medals, as well as the names and addresses of the men he had served with. To this day, my father most regrets having lost that list of names and addresses.

    After that incident, my parents went to the shelter and adopted a dog. A miniature poodle that someone had abandoned- apparantly the grooming costs were more than the original owner bargained for. My mom loved that little dog! He didn’t shed, was incredibly loyal (followed my mom everywhere and would stand guard at whatever room she was in), and he had one heck of a bark. That little dog loved my mom to pieces, but was known to scare off the pants off the mailman. Even made the neighborhood German Shepard run away with his tail tucked between his legs!

    Life is really unfair at times, but try to look on the bright side. No one was injured. The rest heals with time. My advice, get a yappy little dog who loves you to pieces.

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  16. My purse was stolen out of my car a little over a week ago and I felt violated. I can’t imagine someone coming in to my home and looking through my drawers. Do you have an alarm? If not, are you planning on getting one?

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  20. I have been in your shoes — but not with a child which, I think, would just make the awful feelings worse.

    My house was broken into and when the miscreants couldn’t find sufficient money (all I had was saved pennies), jewelry (nothing of value) or drugs (does Advil count?) they settled on trashing the place and taking everything out of the refrigerator and freezer.

    It is the worst. feeling. ever. It takes a while to return to Normalville. Just be patient with yourself.

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  21. Looks like you’ve gotten lots of supportive feedback, but just had to leave mine as well since the same thing happened to me in Oakland just 2 weeks ago. Sympathize completely, including w/ your feelings about wanting to give your whole apartment a shower…my house hasn’t been this clean in months! I was lucky, an alert neighbor called police & not much was taken. But the place was a mess & I wish my neighbor hadn’t even told me about seeing them in my living room pulling my drapes closed – ugh..that’s MY living room & I don’t need to imagine some thug standing in it every time I walk in! The dog wasn’t home at the time, but I’m glad he’s there w/ me now! Hang in there.

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  22. Oh god. We were robbed a couple years ago. Ther were handprints on the windows in the dust where they tried every window. For over a year I thought I’d come home to someone standing in our house. It’s REALLY creepy. My only advice, allow yourself some compassion. And do something to reclaim the space, like maybe a dog or putting marbles on the floor. 🙂 Hang in there.

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  23. I was burgled a few years ago, and was so very upset. I didn’t even realize that things had been taken until a few days later. There had been workers in my apartment while I was gone and I thought they had just made a huge mess unnecessarily. Only later did I see that my laptop bag was gone and start putting it all together. The thing that really boils my blood is the fact that the laptop was 7 years old, basically worth nothing by then, but it had tons of pictures, music, and personal writing tidbits on it.
    So unfair that there’s just… so little you can do about it. It’s all about just trying to take a deep breath, move on, and realize that stuff is just stuff.

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  24. I’m so very sorry to hear about this. What an awful thing for you to experience. Hope you can reclaim your sense of security soon.

    Seconding all the other advice to go ahead and get a dog. I have a smallish terrier mix, adopted from a rescue society; I don’t think she’d ever attack anyone unless she (or my son or I) was attacked first, but she will definitely make you THINK that she’s going to attack. And – probably related to whatever led her to be at the rescue society – she does not like men. I have to kennel her whenever I have male workers here, and I always wait until they arrive to do it, then let her bark for a few minutes, apologize, put her up, and say, “I hope she doesn’t remember that the latch is broken.” She’s even run solicitors off.

    So, it doesn’t have to be a huge mean dog – a smaller, loud and indignant dog works just fine too. But if you do consider a large dog, Rottweiler is actually one of the best breeds for families with children IF you are certain that you’re getting a dog that’s been properly socialized. They are NOT the monsters people like to make them out to be (ditto pit bulls – with the same disclaimer. It only takes a little bit of screwed-up-ness to mess up their socialization, so raising one from a pup is best). Our local shelter, aamof, won’t let Cocker spaniels or Cocker mixes be adopted to anyone with a child younger than 6, because despite their “Lady and the Tramp” image of docility and sweetness, they’re really one of the worst breeds – statistically – to mix with kids. So don’t be afraid to get a big dog, just be SURE that you know its history and socialization.

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  25. I’ve had my car broken in to a couple of times (while it was parked in our driveway) and I can relate to the general feeling of violation. I”m a teacher and they took my book bag and then when they realized there were only BOOKS in the bag they dumped it about a mile from our house. I got it back – full of pill-bugs. I’m so sorry for you, but glad that you weren’t in the house at the time. Hang tough kiddo!

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  27. This is my first time visiting your blog and I just wanted to say I’m sorry. Knowing some complete stranger has been through your private possessions is infuriating and unsettling, I know. Fingers crossed this creep gets caught, for this crime or the (inevitable) future one.

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  29. i’m so sorry maggie. i saw your twitter a couple days ago & my heart sank. i’ve had you and your family in my thoughts the past couple of days. my wish is that things will normalize for you as soon as possible. i can’t even imagine what that must feel like to be invaded. sending you & your family well wishes.

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  30. christ. robbery has always been the crime I worry about the least, or imagine happening the least (rape and drive-by shootings are #1 and 2)…that’s disgusting, the whole stranger in home touching your things. Not so sure about the whole “get a dog” though…only because the kind of dog you’d want for a loved family pet (like ours) is sadly pretty useless in the face of danger – would most likely beat robber with tail while greeting him/her. (like ours). I wish you better days ahead. 🙂

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  31. Gah, what is it about August??? August 14th, two years ago, I’m driving home from the worst possible day (“Adrienne,” says PhD advisor, “I’m having doubts about your degree…”) when my husband (then boyfriend) calls.

    “Honey? Did you do something to the entertainment center?”
    “Like what?”
    “Like move the VCR somewhere? And the DVD player?” (I can hear him walking around during this exchange.) “And the Playstation? And… uh… all 250 of our DVDs…?”
    “FUCKING HOLY HELL…”

    Worst part? They stole our trash cans. TRASH CANS. To carry our stuff away in the least obvious way possible. Also, in broad daylight. I feel for you. Thank god for insurance.

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  32. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I don’t know you, but you & your family seem like such nice people–I’m glad to hear you are all safe. I hope the “yuck” diminishes over time.

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  33. I am sorry that this happened to you. I hope you can feel safe soon. Wishing very bad Karma on those who stole from you.

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  34. That IS mighty sucky. Wishing you a speedy insurance check and hoping the ooky feeling goes away soon too.

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  36. I am a habitual lurker on your lovely, lovely site, Maggie, but I don’t think I have really ever commented before.

    I would just like to tell you how sorry I am this happened to you! It must be terrifying that the “badies” got in. I’m sending you all my love to help shower your home 🙂

    Feel better!

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  37. Get: A wireless security system w/battery backup for apartment dwellers, which you can take with you when you leave. I highly recommend them.

    Do: Give a call to a cleaning service, to have them come literally clean up for you

    Then: Cleanse the place by incense-ing the heck out of the place, and have a fire-in-a-wastebasket party, where you write down what p.o.’s you about about what happened, your fears, your anger, on bits of paper and burn them.

    Also? Alcohol helps.

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  38. That really sucks and I know just how you feel. I was burglarized last year and although I had insurance and everything was replaced and no one was home (so no one was hurt), it was so traumatic and I felt so violated. In fact, I couldn’t stay another day in the house, so I moved out immediately instead of a month later, as I’d originally planned. So, yeah, definitely need to do some cleansing to get all that bad energy out of your house.

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  39. oh, how awful, having watched hank grow up via flickr one can’t help but grow fond of him, and i am glad you are all safe. i wonder if you have a wish list, where well-wishers can send you a little something to cheer you up?

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  40. Maggie, when I saw your Tweet, I was so sad for you. I also knew what’s really important to you a burglar wouldn’t want so that made me feel better.

    I hope things return to normal soon. Maybe give some change to a homeless person today to try and kick start some good karma!

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  42. Wow, I just had my bike stolen and felt completely violated because my companion of 5 years was gone. Your home? What a blow. I hate condolences about these things. You never feel good about your stuff being gone. Why can’t thieves steal the bag of clothes you didn’t have time to take to the salvation army?

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  44. So sorry to hear about this! Such a terrible feeling. Someone broke into our house a few years ago, but to their dismay, were welcomed by our 140 lb. Great Dane. They left quickly but the feeling that someone was in your house is so awful. I’m sorry they got some of the things (and left their bad vibes) in your home but am glad that you and your family are safe.

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  45. Well THAT sucks, sorry to hear it. I stop by once every 6 months and it seems like it’s life-changing moments every time. Having also been broken into, I may know a shade of what you’re probably feeling. Me, I tried to put on a brave face and held down the “HE WAS IN YOUR HOUSE!” screams that were welling up in my head.

    Oh, and to help you have nightmares: he might STILL be hiding right behind the door! 😉

    Take care and best to the fam!

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  46. I’m so sorry that this happened to you. Our home was broken into a few years ago, and although we felt lucky (dogs were safe, no one else was home) it still felt pretty weird. I can only imagine how much harder it would be now that we have a baby (close to your little man’s age, actually). But we did feel better sooner that I would have expected. I bet you will too. Best wishes.

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  50. I’ve been away awhile….so sorry to see this post! Hope you can regain some sense of security. If not, there’s always moving to Canada… 😉

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