It's Gotten Worse....

Because usually we just laugh and say it can't get any worse -- it has. Now we are victims of crime. The short version of the long story is we were awakened very early Sunday morning to our house alarm screaming and one of our doors slamming shut. Dear husband goes charging down the stairs, certain that a cat has tripped the alarm. Phone is now ringing (alarm company) and I look at the window and see HIM peeking into our house. The thug who has just pushed his way through the doors and into our family room. Then I realize my husband doesn't know he's about to run into an intruder -- but I'm upstairs with all the children. I absolutely did not know how to keep us safe. I screamed for husband to tell the alarm company to get the police and as I am yelling I see the suspect grab two bags and run off into the night.

A gang of police officers arrive to search our yard, neighboring yards, yards behind us and nearby streets. I hear my description of this vile human going out over the police radio. Detectives with black powder and fingerprint kits descend on my home.

Then I see there is one thing missing -- my digital camera (Mother's Day gift) is no longer perched above its printer dock. The creep apparently pushed in, heard the alarm as well, snapped on the light quickly and grabbed the first thing he saw -- my camera. He must have stuffed it into one of those bags I saw him carrying.

We are unharmed. Most of our material pssessions are untouched. And I had even downloaded all the pictures.

But emotions here are reeling. We haven't slept in more than a day. Every little sound makes us jump. We aren't mentioning "the incident" out loud so as not to scare the children who slept through all the commotion. But a black cloud seems to hand over our heads. Wasn't our basement destroyed by a plumbing error just a week and a half ago? Didn't the gutters fall off our old house three days before settlement? Didn't the battery in a fairly new Lexus (J.D. Power customer satisfaction and all) die in our garage and as my husband tried to roll it his hand was crushed into the garage wall? Did I not walk out the front door 8 weeks ago and BREAK MY FOOT??? Is there such a thing as luck -- and more importantly -- BAD LUCK?

We added lighting to the perimeter of our house today and one of my husband's running buddies came to help and secure the ladder because as he told me, "with his luck...."

I am panicked that our bad luck will bring harm to our children. How can I protect this from this never-ending string of disasters? How can I calm myself enough to hold us all together? And can Safeway Electric add enough lights to our property tomorrow to fulfill my new wish: Make it so bright out there you can read the "New York Times" in our backyard at 3 a-m.

God help us.