The stuff that's best for you doesn't taste good

In college, I had a professor who had a pretty tough childhood. I don't know the details, but there were years of abuse. I don't know how anyone deals with that, but this professor came out of it and made a good life for himself.

One day he was talking about his difficult past. He said if he had to go back and live through his childhood again in order to retain what he'd gained from the experience, he would definitely do it all again.

Every so often I'll hear about people who actually pray for trials because they know they'll become stronger and gain from their experiences. I think I will never be one of those people. Besides, trials are part of life and you get them whether you ask for them or not.

Last week, I came home from doing routine errands to find that someone had broken into our back doors and taken everything of value they could find. I know this happens to a lot of people, but knowing that doesn't help anything. Every single piece of jewelry I own, with the exception of the plain gold wedding band I was wearing and a couple pieces stashed away in a bathroom cabinet, was located and taken by the very thorough thief. That includes my diamond wedding ring, every gift I've been given by family and friends over the years, awards, and the few things I brought back from Hawaii. In other parts of the house I found valuable electronics missing. The worst sting comes from the pictures and videos that were stored on these devices that can't be replaced. There is a much shorter list of electronic devices that were NOT taken: Our computer and the kids' (although our monitor is gone), the printer, DVD player, the laptop (stored away from other electronics), and our old-school and therefore enormous, heavy, and not-valuable TV. All cameras, small electronics, and accessories are missing, along with some bigger and kind of unwieldy items. We think there may have been more than one thief, and we know a car was involved.

During the days that followed, we (mostly Paul) put together a comprehensive list of what is gone for insurance purposes. I don't know how Paul spent as much time as he did with that list. Looking at it was upsetting. Two days after the burglary, I got sick. Paul missed a lot of work last week between the burglary and my visits to the doctor. I was in pure survival mode for several days. Friends brought dinner, watched the kids for us, and one friend lent us a camera to document the damage to the house.

It's been a week and a half. My recovery from the burglary has been slowed by being sick, and I find that as I feel better physically, my mind has the capacity to process what happened. It's going to take a long time to get over this one.

Anyone who has had this happen to them knows that it's about more than what was taken. I'm slowly coming to terms with not having what I used to, but it's going to take longer to get over the sense of not feeling safe at home. There are many things to be grateful for, like the safety of our kids, things we did not lose, helpful friends and family, and other circumstances (I'm REALLY glad I'm not pregnant or nursing a baby!!!!).

I know trials are for our good and that good things can come from every disaster, tragedy, or any other major downturn. I'm still living through this one, so I don't have any grand insights about it yet. I hope I don't miss whatever is to be gained from this experience. It's difficult to see how, like my professor, people end up glad that difficult things happened.

Our neighbors are forming a block watch and maybe our experience can prevent someone else's loss. I also think that other little annoyances won't seem so significant after this. For instance, at the moment, my toddler is sharing his waffle with the DVD player...