Monday, July 09, 2007

Somebody broke into our office building and stole from Bill's cash box- also wedding and engagement rings and checkbooks from Joanna's desk - and worst of all, Ruth's cameras and professional lenses. They left her lights but so many of the tools of her trade are just gone! We've spent the afternoon talking to police and various people to insurance people - getting locks changed. One of the things they stole was Joanna's house key and they have her address. My personal office was messed up but nothing was stolen. These people wanted cash and pawnable stuff and left my art alone. I think I'm most upset in mother bear mode. My daughters work for or with me and the space I've set aside for them was not safe and they were violated. I'm irrationally angry at myself for not having been able to keep them safe. I know its not my fault and they're grown women but.... I'm also distressed with the attitude of the police, like this isn't a big deal. Thousands of dollars of things (including cash from one partner's box) were stolen. I know nobody was hurt or killed but I still wanted more attention. I believe there is a chance some of Ruth's things will show up in a pawn shop or on Craig's list or EBay, so she is checking. She seems pretty shaken - not at all sure she will get her business running again, and Joanna is so sad about the rings. I tell myself the thieves were drug addicts, crazy for a fix, bereft of the empathy to know what suffering their act caused - the possible death of a young artist's dream, the loss of symbolic as well as valuable jewelry. I think that, even with our losses, we are in much better shape than they are, but I still feel violated and hurt - also angry.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's not your fault AT ALL--I should have made better arrangements with insurance. I should have brought my cameras home. I should have done it differently.

I'm just so grateful for all you've done to give me and Radiant this chance in the first place! And all you've done to get it back up!

I love you tremendously!

mary j. said...

Victoria,
I am catching up on your and Ruth's blog, and I am so sorry to hear your office was broken into. I can imagine the feeling you described of feeling violated and angry! I have been encouraged and excited to read about the great blessing and generosity that have provided Ruth with new bare-bones equipment. Being quite sentimental myself, I still feel very sad for Joanna's wedding rings. While they only symbolize something that is very special and lives and thrives completely separately from these physical reminders, they are a special and loved item that no thief (and potential future buyer) would ever understand.

Victoria said...

Mary, I appreciate your sensitivity to Joanna's loss of her wedding jewelry by theft. I think I've been minimizing her loss because it is not of something "needed" to make a living or care for family. It is the loss of a symbol and I think I've been staying in my head, not letting myself feel that as a real loss. I also still hope the rings will show up in a pawn shop. My friend Judy had wedding rings stolen and found htem in a pwnshop a year later. But you are right, what the thieves did by taking the rings was a desecration of something sacred and really heinous - even though they can't touch the mariiage Joanna and James have built. I don't know if you know that a benefactor has offered to pay a significant ammount toward new rings - so kind. Though it won't restore the originals it does help restore faith in human kind.