When Your Home Is Violated

An explanation as to why my blogging has been taking a back seat the past few weeks:

For the third time in my life, I have been robbed. This last robbery was different from the other two thefts — one a car theft from right in front of my home many years ago and the other a theft of money from my purse about this same time a year ago. For this third theft, someone entered my home and tossed a particular area in the master bedroom, the area in which I used to keep my jewelry.
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This recent home invasion occurred during the middle of the day. The police investigator's best guess is that I came home and interrupted the theft: apparently, whoever had entered my home left when I arrived, leaving via the back door as I came in the front door. Consequently, as far as has been discerned, only one item was taken. The outcome could have been much, much worse.

Am I now living in a state of fear? No way. Am I taking more precautions? Absolutely, including keeping my handgun close by at all times.

In fact, before I even phoned the police, with my handgun in one hand and the telephone in the other, I cleared the house so as to be sure whoever had entered was not still lurking. As you might expect, the police gave me some grief over taking such a precaution on my own. But I'm not one to cower or flee — or to wait nearly an hour for the police to arrive.

I'm also keeping the house locked up like a vault. Perhaps you are accustomed to living in a vault, but nobody is this neighborhood has ever locked themselves in on all sides, especially during the day. Now, however, this community, which used to be one of small farms, open doors, and porch dwellers, has come to a state of alertness as we have locked ourselves in and, maybe, the criminals out. We're spending time looking over our shoulders and scanning the path between car and house. We're also keeping our windows closed and locked.

I do confess a certain uneasiness now that someone with malicious intentions has invaded my space. Simply put, I don't feel as safe as I used to in my own home.

What little time I've been able to spend on the web over the past few weeks Remember my computer crash? Restoring programs and data consumed two full days, and I still have a few odds and ends to clear up!) has been mostly time to keep up with current events and The Gathering Storm Radio Show. I'm somewhat back to blog rounds now and hope to be visiting my blogging friends on a more regular basis.