Stolen

Hello,



I often wear walking shoes to church and change into shoes that I have carried in my backpack. Generally there is nothing in that backpack of value to anyone else so I just leave it up in the area where we hang our coats. Before I got out of bed this morning I had a thought, “I should take my backpack downstairs with me."



When at church I ignored my warning to myself. After changing my shoes I left my tennis shoes under the coat rack where our coats hung. I tucked my socks inside of them, took my phone out of the backpack, and placed the backpack on the shelf above our coats before heading downstairs for worship.



Upon my return, I went to get my items for the bible study in which I participate. Immediately I noticed that my socks were on the floor, but not my shoes. I looked around the area, but did not see them. Oh no, I did not see my backpack on the shelf. Where could that be? Again I did a little more searching. Then I went to the welcome desk and reported my missing items. After that I went back to do a little more searching before going to my Bible study room. No one else was there yet, so I went back to the coat area. Now I could not see Leroy’s coat. This was a little more serious as he “needs” that coat to walk home. I found him in the class he was attending and brought him up to speed on the circumstances. He came down with me and spotted his coat right away. He had worn a different coat than I remembered. I must learn to be more observant.



In the meantime, unknown to me, the secretary of the church had called the police. I went to my class where someone came and found me telling me that the police wanted to talk to me. I was a little embarrassed to have “bothered” them Because of the low monetary value of my things. Even though I especially like the backpack, my house keys, and my hat, most of it would not matter to others. They did tell me that they were not so likely to find these things because they would probably be thrown in a dumpster. One troubling thought was that I might have written our address on a piece of paper. Someone once told me that I should always have some identification just in case…



After we got home Leroy set about learning if he could take the dead bolt from a closet and put it in the deadbolt spot downstairs which would make us feel safer until he could go to the store to replace it. I tried calling the city library because I did not want someone to check out a number of things and I could be held responsible for them when not returned. They were not yet open.



We were hungry so we ate some lunch. I was washing dishes and Leroy was working on the lock for the garage which was also on the key ring. The police came bearing my bag. They found the woman wearing my shoes. My vague description was close enough, I thought they were aqua but they were really grey with aqua laces. The pink Nike swooshes convinced them they were mine since I knew that was the right color there. I did have my name on a paper along with Leroy’s and his phone, but not our house address.



The police said the woman was very polite, took off the shoes, and then took them to the spot where she had dumped my bag. As nearly as I can remember all of my things were still in it.



Paula