Letter to our Burglar...a Year Later

You may know of my affinity to dates.  March 6, 2017 was a date that I won’t soon forget.  I didn’t publicize it on social media, but I didn’t hide it from people at all either.  It R.O.C.K.E.D. my world, my family’s world.  Hubby called at lunch to tell me that our house had been broken into and the police were on their way.  I won’t go into all of the details here, as it’s not the purpose of this blog for me.  Perhaps, I’ll tell the story soon in a different blog.  Some of our belongings were recovered a short 24 hours later.  Some have never been returned.  Within 48 hours there was an ID of the burglar, but it was a couple of months later before an arrest was made and we believe he was back in our house at one point, and was going to come back a 3rd time but our neighbor’s landscaper scared him off as he came up our driveway.  But again…none of that is the point of this blog.

Two weeks ago we finally heard from the Prosecutor’s office that our “guy” had been sentenced.  He has remained in jail since his arrest last May and he was sentenced to 6 years in prison (no credit for time served).  The judge gave him a bit longer of a sentence instead of ordering restitution for our belongings, as he didn’t feel that we would ever get the money back from him.  I got the call standing in Walmart. I smiled. I was thankful.  I was relieved.  I cried.  It is over, right?  But it’s not in some ways.  We’ll never get our belongings back, but the emotional “theft” he took from our family has been the hardest.  I chose not to go to court to be there for the sentencing. But part of me wanted him to look me in the eye and tell him what he really stole from us that day.  So, finally, the point of my blog…the following is my letter to our “guy”.  I won’t use his name, however trust me…I will never forget it…But here is some of what I would say to him if I had the chance….

Dear Mr. Burglar,

A year ago you kicked in our door, walked through my house, stole things from my CHILDREN and myself. Rifled through my jewelry box and who knows what else you touched or went through.  You were only in my house a few minutes most likely, but you changed our lives FOREVER.  You rocked my family to it’s core.  As I arrived home after school and had to meet my children at the door and make them wait outside while I walked through the house with a baseball bat to make sure no one was there, you continued stealing from us.  It didn’t stop with the “things” that you took. You took so much more than “things”.  

• You stole our sense of security. We no longer felt safe in our own home…every noise was cause for  panic…we didn’t want to be there…worrying that you would come back while we were there…wondering when you might come again.  I remember being sick and not wanting to stay home because I was worried you would come back. We would lie awake at night just in case… We were fearful in OUR own home.  Our home…not yours.  You had no right to take that.
• You stole our feeling of safety. My kids did not ever want to stay alone or arrive home if their dad or I wasn’t there…Having my husband and my son sleeping with a bat just to be able to sleep…having to search the house every day looking for signs that you might have been there again…checking and re-checking locks over and over (almost compulsively)…hearing the doorbell and jumping…wanting to be all in the same room so we knew where everyone was and that they were safe. Leaving a light on 24/7 so it was never dark in the house.
• You stole our ability to simply walk in and sit down. Every time we arrived home we would search the house with a bat before all entering and settling into our routine for the night. Opening and closing closet doors, looking behind doors, looking around the garage…Coming home became a dreaded time as we were flooded with a new routine.  A routine of being fearful and insecure.  
• You stole our ability to sleep through the night. Every sound, every creak, honking horn, loud car driving by, lights of cars shining through the window, made us sit up and strain to listen.  Made us get up to check on the kids.  
• You stole my ability to put on my jewelry every morning because I didn’t even want to touch my jewelry box, because I knew that your hands had touched it all.  I would have to wash my hands after touching any of it because I felt you there when I would even look at it.   
• You stole our money…not actual money…but money that we hadn’t planned on spending that we were saving for other things and had to use on replacing two doors that you broke through and putting in a security system so that we could actually feel comfortable sleeping at night, as well as leaving during the day. 
• You stole our belongings. You took jewelry that had not just monetary value, but so much more than that, it had emotional value.  My mom’s class ring that she gave me to wear, my own class ring that I would’ve given to my daughter some day, rings that were given to me at special times of my life.  They are irreplaceable.  

You say that you “don’t remember” doing it and probably think that your time in jail is unjust.  But I remember it.  My husband remembers.  My children remember.  We have not forgotten, nor will we ever.  The fear has faded because we serve a God that casts out fear…but we will never forget how this made us feel or the stress we went through. You can’t take away our faith (thank you Jesus).  We are stronger in our faith and stronger as a family because of you.  So for that I thank you.  I also pray for you…that you would find Jesus. That you would seek HIS forgiveness. That you would turn your life around and do something good. Something to build others up instead of tearing them down. You have time…use it wisely.  You stole a lot that day…and most of it wasn’t material things.  I pray that you never feel the need to steal these things from others ever again.  Because you can’t give them back…ever…no matter how long you serve in jail.  I leave you with this…

Numbers 6:24-26 New International Version (NIV)

24 

“‘“The Lord bless you

    and keep you;

25 

the Lord make his face shine on you

    and be gracious to you;

26 

the Lord turn his face toward you

    and give you peace.”’