Sanctuary

A sanctuary is a place of peace and quiet, where you can feel safe and secure, be yourself and relax. For most of us our home is such a place. It's our personal space, a place we long to go to at the end of the day, where we can let our hair down, put our feet up and reboot. When that place of sanctuary disturbed and our personal space is invaded, it can be traumatic.

My home, my sanctuary was broken into last Friday, during the middle of the day. I had a doctor's appointment and was gone for about 3 hours. When I came home, I noticed a few odd things, a fan in my son's room had been knocked over, the security bar on the back door was removed. At first I thought my son had come home from work during his lunch hour and was in a hurry and knocked the fan over. I wondered if I had been in such a hurry to leave that I forgot to lock the back door. But something didn't seem right. I walked back through the rooms again, then I saw it. There was broken glass on the bathroom floor and it hit me. I turned and saw my son's tv was gone, his laptop was gone from off his dresser. I had left my laptop on the kitchen table, it was gone, along with a crystal necklace that my son had bought me for my birthday last year.

It must have been a quick job, probably one person, since only a few things were gone. I'm thinking maybe Lola scared the thief off when he came out of my son's room and started through the living room towards my room. He broke the bathroom window and climbed through. He/they didn't go through any drawers and left a few other items that I was surprised weren't taken.

I am grateful because it could have been a lot worse, more things taken or he could have hurt Lola or let her out the front door. But I don't know that I will ever feel the same about my house, hopefully I will in time, but it's going to take a while. My sense of security has been shattered, my sanctuary doesn't seem so peaceful.

I spent the entire weekend replacing the glass in the bathroom window, buying and putting up security bars on some of the windows, and extra locks on the doors. I still need to buy some more security bars for the rest of the windows. I will do that one at a time, but at least they're up on the bathroom window and my son's bedroom window. If I could afford to get a security system installed I would, but  I just can't do it right now.

I've been trying hard to get out of debt and this sure has set me back. Between getting the locks and security bars. I did have to get a new laptop. not only for me but my son uses it also for his college classes. I still feel traumatized by it all.

My son's laptop had actually crashed a couple of years ago and he just uses his phone unless he needs to do something for a class then he uses my laptop,  so I guess the thieves will get a big surprise. I was most upset by losing the necklace my son gave me and the pictures that were on my laptop that I lost.

It's a sad thing that you have to barricade yourself inside your own home to feel safe. That people who are too lazy to work feel entitled to take things that other people work hard to be able to have.  That I don't feel a sense of peace in my home. That I have lost interest in the plans I was making to work on making a bigger garden next summer. That I look with suspicion at everyone who walks down my street. That I have to hide things when I leave for work in the morning or take them with me.

I'm sure a lot of those feelings will go away with time, but will my home ever feel like my sanctuary again? I hope so.


Kathy