Bling Bling is Dead

At least to me she is. Someone else may be joy riding in her as we speak. Or perhaps they are dissecting her for her well sought after black market parts. In 2005 the 2nd most stolen car was a 1995 Honda Civic - so I guess it only makes sense that our 1998 Honda Civic would be in high demand as we approach 2008.

So let me back up a little bit. This morning started out like any other normal morning. We got up, had breakfast together as a family, read scriptures, said family prayer, and then Sam walked us out the door at 7:45 to make our 8:00 appointment at the YMCA playcare. As we walked towards the parking lot I didn't immediately see our car, which was strange to me, because we usually have the spot closest to our apartment, but I didn't think too much of it. I figured I must have forgotten where I parked. But as we entered the parking lot it became evident that the car was no where in sight. I immediately thought we must have gone somewhere else last night and parked further down. Sill, no car in the whole lot. It didn't seem real. That was my car. I had the keys in my pocket. I had locked it the day before when I got home from the grocery store. How could it possibly be gone? Who steals a car with 2 car seats parked in the graduate student apartment complex? Why would they want my 10 year old car anyway? For the next hour, as we called the police and insurance company, it still didn't seem real. I even checked a near-by lot that we never park in - amnesia seemed more likely than having my car stolen. It was just 2 days ago that I was contemplating what would be the fate of my trusty bling-bling. We are hoping to graduate by the end of the summer, and we were planning on purchasing a new vehicle (mini-van?) when Sam got his first job. I was just thinking what we might do with the Honda (bling-bling as she is affectionately known) - figuring we would keep her, and maybe even she would be the car that Harrison would first learn to drive. To give you a little background on why I might think this way - my family owned a 1971 Buick Station Wagon and a 1971 Ford Mustang until 1994 or so. And my Honda was surely much more reliable than those American made cars. It only made sense. And in the mean time, it would probably make a great commuter car for Sam. Low MPG, and great reliability. Why would I ever sell it? It seemed to be worth so much more that the $6000 or so it might fetch if I tried to sell it. Well, that's no longer my choice. Even if the police do manage to recover it, most likely it will never be the same again. I KNOW it will never feel the same again. She was my first big purchase - I bought her (with some help from mom and dad) the summer before my junior year in college. I paid her off with money from my first real job after college. My boys rode home from the hospital in her. And I thought she would be around for many more years. It still doesn't feel quite real yet - maybe because she hasn't been replaced yet. Maybe because we only realized what had happened to her less than 3 hours ago. Maybe because there's a chance that we'll get her back. I don't even have any pictures of her, except for these interior shots of the boys last year. There's a huge range of emotions I'm feeling right now - Angry - angry that someone stole from me, angry that I missed out working in the gym, angry that someone else is driving my car. Disappointed - that we wont have her in our family any more. Overwhelmed - Police claim, insurance claim, buying new car seats, getting a short term car, finding a long term car. I guess it's good that we weren't planning on going anywhere for Thanksgiving. I am very thankful that my nice Maclaren stroller which I keep in the trunk was on my back porch last night, and that there was really nothing of any value in my car. And I'm looking forward to getting some distance from this incident so it wont be so emotionally exhausting.