Yesterday morning, I was rather relaxed as I prepared to go to work. I had written in the blog, had processed some of the previous week, had sat still and breathed a while. After a shower, but not a shave, I put on pretty casual clothes to get to church for a 10 o'clock Membership Committee meeting . . . and noticed that there was a message waiting on my cell phone. (Must have caught me during the shower.) I returned our Sexton's call, and learned, as I turned the corner onto Ballenger Highway, that the church had been burglarized.
A police car from Flint Township was out front, and a group of members were congregatiing around Cheryl, our office assistant, and looking at the mess. All the computers--including my one month old Duo Core iMac--had been stolen, the doors into the office and the communicating door to my study had been kicked in, a mirror on my door was broken, the Brown University chair my parents bought for me was upturned . . . and even my 250 GB external hard drive--with all my backups--was gone. Whew! I was stunned. (But growing angry.)
It's hard to reason this through. The value of the old computers was minimal. What someone might get from a pawn shop (or fence?) would be so little compared to the inconvenience of replacing doors, changing locks, closing bank accounts, cancelling credit cards . . . to say nothing of the dozens of forms on the office computer, the sermons and newsletter articles and the lecture series I worked on for seven months (oh, God!). What a pain this will be to recover where possible, to recreate where necessary, to give up where lost.
The day then was topsy-turvied with visits to the bank, calls to the insurance company, alternative arrangements to get out the church's weekly e-mail update, and preparation for Monday School. Monday School itself was touching, emotional and satisfying for me, and I hope it was for the students, too. We shared more of our spritual journeys, and considered the ways we humans develop our spirituality and for our ideas about God and humanity and religious community and ethics.
Late at night, as the door to the office could not be reliably secured, two members of the Church Board and I spent the night in the church. I slept (peacefully!) on the sofa bed in my study (a gift of Val Neumann, second from the right) and her husband Tom Weslowki; Jennifer Howard (on the left) and Linda Campbell (on the right) slept on cots in the office. They spent time puttering around the church while I was at home trying to pull up my electronic calendar and restore my e-mail accounts on the old iMac at home. when I got there, we watched a couple of episodes of Season 1 of "Absolutely Fabulous," and I laughed away a bit of my anger and anxiety.
Early this morning, Jennifer got up to bring a new key to the sunrise AA group (they start to show up at 6:30), and Linda went home to begin her motherly schedule of getting the boys off to school before her own work day. I didn't hear them leave, but got up, I'm sure, just minutes after they left. I watched the sun rise, spoke to a few guys from the Early Birds, and then tried to arrange these few thoughts.
I slept well last night. Slept with my CPAP machine rather soundly. Woke with the sheets in a ball--as usual. Was a little sad and, well, weary, I guess. Then checked to see if the schedule is clear this morning to get off to the computer store to figure out what's next.
Through the sadness, still the morning is clear. A little too warm. Wondering if it will be muggy.
Step by step.
Good morning.
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