These Janet lyrics are two fold. Please come back to reading my renovation diaries! I know I've been gone too long but I had a very, very good reason.
I got robbed. Despite living in a fantastic neighborhood with a Sheriff across the street and little kids riding their big wheels down my Magnolia lined streets, someone broke in to my house.
It sucked. Mostly because I made a lot of mistakes. I hadn't gotten around to installing the outdoor lights, so it looked like this:
Pretty GD dark. Next, my contractor forgot to board up the outside of my french doors. This is not his fault. We boarded up the interior, so even if you came through the french doors, short of hatcheting through the door you wouldn't be able to get in to the main house. BUT it made me look like a target.
Next, I left my tiny 3 foot kitchen window open, that's nine feet off the ground. Thieves I have found are tenacious and in my case, very, very small.
3 strikes. OUT.
They tried the addition first then came in through a window and had about two minutes uninterrupted before they triggered the alarm. They got away with a lot of my things. My jewelry mostly. 30k of it. Plus a few expensive handbags and one pair of Christian Louboutins. Thieves also had great taste.
Now, before you say, wait you had 30k of jewelry just LAYING around your house while you have workers there, what are you an idiot??
I had no idea how much my jewelry was actually worth until I had to itemize it for a police report. The most expensive item, my diamond earrings. I actually wear every day but in a rude twist of fate the back broke the day prior so they were in my jewelry box waiting to be repaired. I also have never been burglarized (besides my car), ever in my life. And I had a sort of genuine naiveté about it.
And I know what you're thinking.. 30k, new house, renovations, you must be loaded!! I'm actually not. Every piece of jewelry that I owned, I either saved copiously to buy, was inherited or given to me. Thats why it stings. A lot of it was irreplaceable. And because I just moved in, I didn't really do my due diligence on my insurance, so most of it sadly is gone.
I want you to come back...
So there are two way this could go down. It could, one, make me feel violated, unsafe and bitter. Or It could, two, remind me of how lucky I am to never have to steal from another person, to not have been home when they did, to not have any vandalism, to live somewhere where the police arrived in 3 minutes and now have sent extra patrol cars every day since the break in ...to be a home owner to begin with. I pick two. World, you're just not going to convince me that you're only a dark and scary place. There is darkness and there is light. And I chose the light. Always.
Good news? My addition is swimming along. Dry wall is in...windows and doors are in. Inspector Approved. Hooray!
A peek at the french doors and the hallway leading to the rest of the house.
So instead of having a woe is me, why me?! moment. I will instead choose a giddy why me!!! moment. As in, how did I get so lucky to be able to have a home like this? Hiccups and all. Grateful is my choice.
In the words of Bob Marley, Light up the Darkness y'all.
xoxox,
Summer
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