Again, I don’t really feel like writing about it. But I’ll just say, beyond the major electronics a *hides face* open safe of important papers were swiped. Now, I REALLY don’t feel like writing about this, but it makes for a good story even if it makes my beloved and I look like major dum dums.
Besides the passenger side widow, wrecked door lock, dashboard console and ignition, a small safe, not locked, tucked under the couch was pillaged. It previously contained: our marriage license, my and Mr. X’s birth certificates, my social security card, (oh god, I don’t even want to admit this one to you guys) the titles to BOTH of our vehicles, also possibly, we weren’t really sure, bank account information and credit cards.
We feel incredibly grateful because they tried to steal the whole thing and couldn’t. If these incompetents had the presence of mind to look in the wooden lock box, that wasn’t locked on the dash in between the front seats, they would have found…..a spare set of keys and current insurance papers.
So, in review, the thieves had keys to start and drive away the vehicle with proper insurance and title in case they were pulled over.
Think about that for a minute. We did. After the horror, it was kind of funny. On top of loosing the RV, we would have nothing. No clothes, food, shoes, bathroom stuff…..nothing. Thank god I’m not telling you that story.
Okay, one last thing. Seriously, it’s embarrassing, and again, the only reason I’m telling you all of this is because it will make you laugh and hopefully brighten your day that you are not as silly as us. My mom through some weird convoluted deal that was manipulative yet generous at the same time had given me some checks to pay as principal on the house as an addition to the monthly house payment we we’re paying. The deal was, she had some extra cash so she gave it to us in a series of checks filled out for $2000 each to be paid each month on top of our house payment, to be paid back to her when the house sold. At some point, I felt not right about cashing the checks and didn’t want the baggage that came along with the whole thing, so I just stopped cashing them. While standing in the middle of the broken safety glass and ripped out dash, the first thing that came to my mind was that the five signed, un-cashed checks with a blank “pay to the order of” line. I thought they were in the safe. I frantically dialed my mom and briefly explained. She got in the car and broke every speed limit to get to the bank to cancel her account. It was five checks at $2000 apiece. Yes, do the math…$10,000 freaking dollars of idiocy.
On further inspection, they were still in the RV. They were in a plastic three door organizer under the bed, but in plain view. This is about the only time I can think of that I’ve been grateful for incompetence. I called my mom back just in time for her to not cancel her account.
We’ve cancelled our credit cards, changed our checking and savings accounts and activated fraud watch with the three major credit bureaus. I couldn’t sleep well last night and woke up early and went to the county recorders office and got a new marriage license. I thought it was going to be a nightmare, but ended up taking less than two minutes and cost $20. I was especially queasy because the house sale is contingent on me having documented proof that my maiden name has changed to the married name shown on my drivers license. The claims adjuster came out today to check out the damage and said “not bad at all”. All we have to do is take the RV in and they fix it minus our deductible. I was really shocked at how nice and efficient everyone at AMEX insurance was. I was, once again expecting bureaucracy, suspicion and nausea and was surprised at how easily these things can be replaced and how nice people can be.
Over all, it could have been worse so I’m sticking to my life motto: If you’re able to laugh and it makes for a good story….it’s worth it.