Dear person-who-made-my-day-miserable,

Thanks a lot.  And I mean that with as much sarcasm as I can muster.

I headed over to my car with my sister and our neighbor, who we take home from track practice, and found myself walking on something that crunched beneath my feet.

What did I find when I looked down? Well, to be honest I only took a quick glance, since the gaping hole in my car window kind of demanded my whole attention. However, I saw that it was glass and connected the dots.

At this point, it seemed as if I was watching a movie or a story being acted out. I never would have thought something like this would happen to me, which is dumb, I am aware. Though, why would I ever think that I would be a victim of vandalism and robbery?

My insides turned to mush as I quickly remembered that I left my purse in the car.  Peering through the hole in my window, I glanced around at the empty seat and floor.  That should have been an indication that a couple items were missing, but hey, I was in shock that this was happening and was mainly just taking in the scene.  It finally dawned on me that my purse and my sister’s purse were not in the car.

That is the main thing I don’t appreciate, Mr.Thief.  My purse had my money, license, and all of my saved-up gift cards from over the years.  Not to mention, that was my favorite purse.  All of that, gone. I’m not just angry at you; I’m mad at myself, for a couple reasons. One being that I almost didn’t bring my purse to school that day. Two, I shouldn’t have left my purse in my car. The latter was just plain stupid, but at least I didn’t commit a crime.

The first thing on my mind was cancelling my credit card, so I called my mom.  Knowing it wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation, I braced myself.  I’ll have to admit, I was a little surprised when my mom sounded angrier at me for leaving my purse in the car than the robber. But I guess it was well deserved – I’m not letting you off the hook, though.

After that call, the policemen show up. They do their protocol, asking questions about what happened and what was stolen. Surprisingly, however, the policeman talking to me divulged that there were two other car break-ins that day.  I guess you had a busy schedule.

Once the policemen were finished, I drove the car around to the side of the school, aware that I was trailing glass like Hansel and Gretel with bread. A vacuum machine was brought out to clean up the mess you made. Shame on you, not even cleaning up after yourself.  Finally, my sister and I took the car home, with cold wind blowing around inside, freezing us to the bone.  After all, there was still snow on the ground – you could’ve chosen a warmer day.

I implore you to not break into cars anymore, if only for the sole purpose of not ruining someone’s day.  This ordeal you caused me took up a lot of my afternoon, which left little time for homework.  I must say, I don’t appreciate it.

So, so long, Mr. Thief, I hope our paths don’t cross again.

Elizabeth Driver is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com. 

 Sincerely,

 Person-who-doesn’t-leave-her-purse-in-the-car-anymore