As part of the process for preparing to travel for 1-2 years, we have been decluttering and getting rid of a lot of our stuff. We currently live in a studio apartment, and have a small storage space in the basement of the building. We have boxed up some items that we know we want to keep, primarily sentimental items or things we have received as gifts and want to have after our return. Throughout that process, we have struggled a bit with getting rid of our things – things that we once bought with a purpose and enjoyed. While that has been a challenge, it has been a rewarding process as well – we are able to visibly see our progress of downsizing and we have made many donations to charities along the way. For the most part, we have felt good about getting rid of things, knowing that they are going to a good cause and that we are making progress toward our goal of leaving next year. While we have realized this in our minds for the past few years, this lesson really hit home in our hearts this week.

This past Monday, Jon left for work around 2:30pm. Since the weather has been nice during the daytime, he left a couple of windows cracked open to allow fresh air inside, as we typically do. I left work and went to the gym, my normal weekly routine. When I arrived at home around 6:30pm, I noticed a picture frame had fallen from my dresser and was face-down on the floor. A second picture frame was knocked over on the dresser, and my jewelry boxes (usually stacked behind the picture frames at the back of the dresser) seemed scattered. My initial thought was that Tucker, our cat, had jumped on the dresser and knocked things over. Upon closer inspection, I realized that there were jewelry boxes missing, not just scattered or fallen. At this point, I still didn’t think much of it.

I called Jon at work, and asked him if he had been looking for something around the apartment right before he left. That might explain why things were in disarray and had not been tidied – perhaps he was in a hurry to leave and needed to get something for work. He was immediately suspicious of why I was asking. Once I explained that the picture frames had fallen and I couldn’t find some of my jewelry boxes, he told me – “We’ve been robbed.” I started looking around and then discovered that our bathroom window (one of which had been left cracked open) had been opened all the way and the screen was out of the frame, laying on the ground outside. The window had been standing wide open, most likely for a couple of hours.

My first reaction was to grab Tucker, so that he didn’t try to jump out the window. Thank goodness he had stayed inside the whole time – he could have easily jumped out of the window and gotten lost. I then called 911 and explained that we had been robbed and our window was standing wide open. After relaying a few more details to the 911 operator, he assured me that a patrol car would arrive shortly, and that I was safe inside since nobody was in the apartment with me.

After hanging up the phone with me, Jon had called our landlord, Scott, who lives a few blocks away. Scott arrived within 5 or 10 minutes, to stay with me and check out what had happened. Our upstairs neighbor, Dee, also came downstairs at this point. He hadn’t heard anyone in our apartment all afternoon, after Jon left for work. I took Tucker upstairs to lock him in Dee’s bathroom for a while, knowing that the police and Scott would need to go through our apartment. Jon left work early and got home shortly after the police arrived. They took down our information and looked at the things we knew were missing. He gave us a blank form where we could fill in all of our missing items, once we had time to go through the entire apartment and make notes of what had been taken. He left, and then Scott and Dee left shortly after.

It was then that I broke down – I took one look at Jon inside of our apartment and couldn’t keep the tears from falling. I had already seen that the robber had stolen almost all of my real jewelry, and some of my fake jewelry as well. Most of the jewelry that I had was sentimental – a pair of earrings from my grandmother, a necklace from my parents for graduation, an Egyptian cartouche with my name in hieroglyphics from a family friend, among many others. The dollar amount and money lost was not the reason I was crying – it was the loss of the items that I held dear to my heart, items that held such special memories.

Jon held me, and reminded me of the importance that we were both safe and Tucker had not ran away. This is something I’ve had to continually repeat to myself over the past two days – that things are not important; people (and pets too!) are what is most important. It’s been something I have known in my mind for the past couple of years, ever since we have been downsizing and getting rid of our material possessions. However, in doing that, I have always been able to set aside the items that are important to me and that I want to keep for our return after our trip. This has been a very hard lesson to learn this week, as I’ve felt the loss in my heart, not just my mind.

It was around 8:00pm by the time everyone was gone and I had gotten over my tears (for the moment, anyway, as there would be more to come as I thought of and worked through the situation). We started going through all of our drawers, boxes, and hidey-holes. Overall, we discovered that almost all of my jewelry was stole, about $300 cash was missing, and some of Jon’s pure gold and silver coins he received for graduation were taken. Not a very long list in terms of number of items, but they came with a high price tag – not only because almost all of the items were gifts and sentimental items, but the value of everything stolen was around $7,000.

We alerted Dee that we would be going out for a little bit, so he could keep an eye on the building and our apartment. We drove to Jared’s Jewelers, where we had purchased a lot of the items that had been taken. The manager, Tanya, was very sympathetic and helpful. She printed receipts for everything that was missing, taking the time to write down details such as the cut and clarity of the diamonds from my earrings (a Christmas present from Jon this past year). She also went over the list of other items with me – things that were gifts and therefore didn’t have receipts. She gave me estimates on sizes and descriptions to put in our police report, so that we could be as accurate as possible in our list.

It was hard to try and go to bed that night. We triple-checked that all of our windows were closed and locked, the deadbolt to the door was secure, and all of our blinds where down and closed. We finally went to bed around midnight, but neither of us slept very well. Every time the wind would howl outside or a car would drive down our street, we woke up. It was a fretful sleep and I finally got out of bed in the morning before my alarm went off. I was too nervous to shower with the bathroom door closed, so I kept it open (waking Jon up in the process of getting ready, but he was understanding and didn’t mind). I left for work, feeling more secure once I got to my familiar office full of people I know.

Jon called into work and took a personal day, so he could get started on all of the paperwork that is necessary after something like this. He finished filling out the police report and list of items stolen, made copies of everything, and went to the police department to turn it all in. They told him that they would distribute the list to the pawn shops in the area, who are legally required to hold all jewelry and similar items for 14 days before selling, so that the police have time to give them a report of what has been stolen recently. Then, he called our insurance company to file a claim, getting a list of the paperwork they require.

Now that I have had a couple of days to process this and get over the initial shock and anger, I’m realizing how lucky we are. Yes, we had a lot stolen and I am still upset and depressed over losing those items. However, things could have been a lot worse – one of us could have been home and been hurt in the robbery, Tucker could have jumped out of the window and run away, the robber could have stolen much more than he did, or our entire apartment could have been destroyed and vandalized. Looking on the bright side of this is tough – I’m struggling to do so and will probably still struggle to keep a positive outlook on the situation. It’s a mental challenge and has worn both of us down the past couple of days. In all of the preparation for our trip, we never expected to be robbed at home – we had been preparing that it could happen on the road somewhere, not considering that it could happen to us at home before we leave.

We are lucky to have such strong support surrounding us – our families and friends have been wonderful during this time, offering encouragement and sympathy. We need to remember those around us who love us – the memories and the people are what really matter. Things don’t matter. Thank you to everyone who has reached out to us and expressed your love and support during this time – we appreciate those kind words more than you realize.