A Day Gone Bad

This morning we went to the YMCA for Family Day. The two big attractions were 1) the opportunity to tie dye a t-shirt, and 2) a firetruck that was due to visit at 11 a.m. When we got there, just after 11, there was no fire truck, and to Luke's disappointment, it was a no-show. We did get a one-on-one tutorial in tie-dying, however. Bryn was reluctant at first, but she became more interested after we transformed a boring white t-shirt for Ken into an interesting blue-and-purple swirl. Bryn chose the same pattern for a stained t-shirt of hers that we had brought with us, and it turned out well.



While Luke napped, Ken took Bryn to a high school field hockey game, then Bryn helped me to make dinner. Around 2:15 we headed to our local Borders for their Kid Day, which was crowded, disorganized and understaffed. When we arrived, we had just missed the first story that had been read. A single staffer was handing out Halloween candy, but kids were disorderly and pushing and the staffperson seemed understandably overwhelmed. We sat next to a friend of Bryn's from school and waited about 10 minutes for the next story to be read, but we grew impatient with the wait and overall chaos. So Bryn and I left the children's section and instead found a quieter space among the bookshelves to read a handful of Halloween books. We were there for probably 45 minutes, but the Kids Day portion was a waste of time.

As soon as I got home, I discovered that my wallet was missing from my purse. I rushed back to Borders, which was still chaotic, but to no avail. When I returned home, Ken was already on the phone with credit card companies as fraudulent charges had in fact been made -- $1,300 in two transactions at a nearby CVS, to start. While Ken was on the phone canceling our credit cards, the kids were in the den, presumably watching TV. But then Bryn came into the kitchen to tell us that Luke had swallowed a bottle cap! Ken rushed to the TV room where Luke seemed fine but no bottle cap could be found anywhere on the floor or in between the couch cushions. Luke, of course, isn't really talking, so it was impossible to get a straight story out of him. Did he put a bottle cap in his mouth? Yes. Did the bottle cap go down his throat and into his tummy? No. Then where's the bottle cap? No response. I needed to contend with the stolen wallet, so Ken took Luke to the emergency room. If there's any room for laughter in these concurrent crises, it's in the fact that on his way to be X-rayed, Luke happened to be wearing a new black shirt with glow-in-the-dark appliques of a skeleton's torso and arms! And funnier yet is that he had to be X-rayed twice because the glow-in-the-dark design on the shirt interfered with the X-ray! Thankfully the hospital staff concluded with confidence that there was no bottle cap inside Luke, and Ken and Luke's trip to the hospital was a quick one -- back in an hour's time. The missing bottle cap, if there was one to begin with, remains a mystery.

Meanwhile, as Bryn watched videos, I finished contacting credit card companies and banks -- and the police. Roughly $2,000 in fraudulent charges were made or attempted on 4 cards. I'm having a hard time accepting the fact that I've been a victim of crime twice in two months -- first in July with a stolen backpack and cell phone at Sesame Place and now at a Borders book store with a wallet that was lifted right out of my purse. My purse, which has a zipper closure, was with me at all times, either on my shoulder or next to me as I was reading to Bryn -- the more likely time that my wallet was taken. Ugh. So now I have to go to one bank tomorrow and fill out an affidavit. Other banks will send me forms in the mail to sign and return. Getting our money back will likely happen but some banks seem to be more forthcoming than others. And then there's the headache of needing to get a new license, new insurance cards, etc.,, not to mention the lost cash (I had just been at the ATM yesterday) and the wallet itself. So, so upsetting and unsettling and frustrating and annoying. The good news is that only the wallet was taken, and I'm lucky that this incident didn't occur while traveling, particularly abroad. What would you do in such a situation?!?