Thank you all.........

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I mean it. I am overwhelmed at such beautiful responses. You wonderful friends in the blogosphere so far outweigh the "meanies" that I didn't want to stay away. I swear I wasn't trying to be a drama queen! (Although I do confess a penchant for tiaras!)

It's been a strange several days here ... almost surreal. The evening I posted that I would take a break after reading those comments and emails, I had spent seven hours enroute and/or on my feet volunteering at the ballet. It was my last volunteer day of the eight I've done in six weeks while working at my job frenzily and getting ready for Christmas, throwing my Girl Scout Gingerbread party and having two groups of friends and family to visit. I am and was pretty much exhausted - but in a very satisfied way. The last of my "company" left yesterday so a couple of us decided to go see "King Kong." I have never seen the original with Faye (sp?) Wraye/Raye (sp?) but this movie......well, it is pretty unbelievable! It is action packed and with a love story/triangle on top of it.

Anyhow, I tote around a pretty big handbag. You know, being a woman, I have to have "touch up" powder and lipstick, being a germophobe I have to have my antibacterial hand soap, a brush for fine, flyaway hair, my business cards for business, my wallet for the reason everyone else takes theirs, my cell phone and headpiece since I refuse to drive and hold a phone up to my ear, assorted pens and pencils because I am an office products affianciando, my high clearance security tag to get into my office, and room for snacks, drinks, etc. oh, and my Benadryl for that pesky allergy problem. I sat down at the movies (we were hurried) and placed my bag next to me in an empty chair, but close. I kept getting emails - and I was checking them for work and such so it wasn't as though I wasn't watching my bag. Also, I had my fleece over it.

Funny how you notice things when you are a people watcher! There was not a row directly behind me so I noted with interest as a rather tall, big boned woman with long, curly, wiry and unruly hair pulled back sat down two seats away from my handbag. She had on corduroy pants and a heavy sweater -- last year's or the year before's look. She kept her face turned away from me somehow. At points, I glanced at her during the movie and wondered what brought her to a theater alone (not that that's bad). I actually thanked God that I was there with some folks I really cared about. During the last 20 minutes, (the most exciting part), she got up and left and I marveled briefly at how someone could leave then! When the movie was over, I reached over for my bag and it had been LODGED down - way down in the seat - and my fleece had been moved. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but it took three of us to dislodge it and check to see if anything had dropped out. I had driven so we got to the car, and something just told me to look inside. My wallet was GONE! My friends RAN back inside the theatre -- NOTHING. Then went to the box office and there was my wallet AND my CHECKBOOK (which I hadn't noticed was missing!) Supposedly, one of the ushers turned it in at the box office. I was starting to drive away and thought he should be rewarded! And I looked inside my wallet because I was carrying quite a bit of cash and I was CLEANED OUT. No money. No $100 bill from my dad. All gone. I was dumbfounded. It so happened that there was a police officer in the theatre.

He told me to be glad it was just money (I was glad about that) and that I would need to go to the police station to fill out a report. Which I did. He told me to call all my credit card companies and put a fraud alert on them. Well, a fraud alert does nothing come to find out. I had to cancel EVERY ONE of my cards! ALL. Luckily, I had dropped my debit card down in my bag so she didn't have access to that.

It's just really creepy to think someone with those evil intentions was literally right in my FACE and by my friends. My friends think I'm crazy but after we left the station and went to dinner, I was musing over what kind of woman would do this? How desperate was she? One of my friends was like, "Oh come on WFW, she's evil and probably on drugs." I couldn't help thinking - what if she wasn't? What if her kids were hungry? What if she had a sick child? Was she feeling guilty then after stealing from me? How scared must she have been to be so bold to try something like that? She had to be afraid of getting caught. I couldn't shake the feeling. I also couldn't shake the feeling of wondering what would have happened if I had looked over and caught her red handed with my wallet and checkbook in my hands? Would I have seen evil or fear? At that point, I broke down and cried and cried in my napkin at TGI Friday's. I cried for all the people who are desperate, for all the people who are afraid, and for those people who have no conscience.