BURGLED

What a difference a day makes! Yes, that's a cliche, but you know expressions become cliches because they're so true.

Between the peace and comfort of yesterday morning's photo and the one I took this morning there was quite a lot of distress and disruption. Mama's home was burgled.

We suspect the thieves were still in the house when Mama got home, after a scant two hours of running errands. She walked into the kitchen through the garage, just as she normally does, and deposited her groceries on the counter. She noticed there were messages on the machine, and played them. One of them was a message for her grandson Chris, who, until recently, lived in the daylight basement with his wife and children. Mama picked up the telephone and called her granddaughter, Chris's wife, and while they talked Mom wandered out into the living room. On her way, she noticed bits of wood in the entry floor, and then saw the front door was standing open, and the door jamb was splintered. She walked out onto the front deck/porch, still talking, but Cathy told her to hang up and call Harriet, who lives nearby.

Calls then, to 911 from Cathy, to Harriet from Mom, and to 911 from Harriet. Harriet told Mama, "Go down to the end of the driveway, and I'll come get you. Do not go back into the house!" I think she was right to say that, and that the burglars were still there.

Mama called me. I was out to dinner with friends, and called the DH at home. My friends and I had planned to go to a movie. We ditched it, and DH and I drove two hours to get to Mama's.

This is the photo I took this morning of the temporary fix DH did last night, so the door couldn't be opened:


The thieves also damaged the patio door jamb, and a window screen trying other ways to get in. The front door was the weak point.

They were quite professional. The police got no prints. Every surface was clean, which spelled gloves. The first stop the burglars made was, apparently, the buffet in the dining room. When they found what they thought was silver in one of the drawers, the went into the first bedroom they found, stripped a pillow of its case and began filling it. All the "silverware", and then in Mama's bedroom, all the jewelry she had on top of her dresser--all the beautiful rings Daddy had given her over the years, my Dad's and Mama's parents' wedding bands, the cameo Grandpa gave Grandma many years ago, anything that looked easy to hock. Nothing was of great monetary value. Each was a sentimental treasure.

Oddly, the scuzzballs also took the headset my brother had given Dad, for listening to the TV without having to blast into the oblivion the eardrums of everyone else in the house. They took the earphones, but left the base they were on, the charger and wireless broadcaster. That may be more proof that they were in the house when Mama came in.

I keep telling myself this is an art blog, and that this probably isn't "appropriate material" for it. Whatever. My head is full of insurance claims requirements, and home security systems, and making sure Mom is safe, especially now that we're back home.

Bother.

On the plus side, Mama's phone rang all day, with calls from friends and family all over the country making sure she was okay. She even got a lovely bouquet of flowers, from a grandson in Illinois and his wife. After one of the calls, Mama punched the End button on the telephone handset, and said, "This is great." And she meant it. There was a lot of love flowing Mama's way today.

Not that there isn't every day, just that today it was really obvious!