Thievery

It's not even noon and I've cried three times. Once to Dan, once to my parents, and once to my friend Tim who works at my local PCC. It's embarassing, but I'm hurt, and so sad. Someone stole my lovely, lucky, hope-inducing Buddha. My father bought the stone carved Buddha back around 2006. It was a reward for my hard work (I used to work for my parents as a purchasing agent). I had seen it while working at a trade show for my parents. My dad noticed how much I loved it so he and my mom surprised me with the gift, hauling it from Tucson, back to Wenatchee. I have since moved 5 times, each time hauling the 150-200 lb statue each time. Buddha has been my vision of kindness, of triumph in times of fear and challenge. I've rubbed his belly more times than I could remember. I always give him a rub or a kiss when I head out for surgeries or treatments. When we first moved into our current rental we debated on whether or not to place him inside the house or out in the garden. Our house is a triangle and it is surrounded on two sides by sidewalks - not much for privacy, or security for that matter. We finally settled on a spot just to the left of our front door, next to a waterproof container storing doggie treats for puppies walking by. I had been working on a sign, creating a little necklace for Buddha that says, "Budda says doggie treats are good!" Then underneath, in small cursive it says. "Please take one. Enjoy."

Here's an old photo of my sweet Buddha...

See the planter just in front of sweet Buddha? They took that too. I'll never get to use that doggie treat sign. Guess I'll toss it in the trash. The thing is, I'm not obsessed with Buddas. I'm in love with THAT Buddha. It represented the love from my mom and my dad, and although it is just a thing, a possession, it had deep meaning. I feel like a chunk of my heart was stolen. It's like getting kicked in the gut. They stole from right in front of our house, the Buddha was just inches from our window. It's creepy, and sad.

I don't understand how people take other people's stuff. How can they feel good about themselves? I feel very violated, and disappointed.

Yesterday I was elated, very excited because I was able to jog over to Eastlake and enjoy lunch with Allison Posenjack from Friday Harbor. As I was jogging I started thinking about how small a human life's blip is in the big scheme of things. It made me contemplate what the purpose of my life is, I wondered what more I could do to help make the world a better place, to help others. Then, at lunch I was telling Allison that I truly believe that people are innately good. Sure there are a few bad nuts out there, but those are few and far between. Ironically, and unfortunately, we've got a couple of rotten nuts that live right near us.

Lunch with Allison (her husband is battling ALS)

The worst part about the whole thing is that it happened during the afternoon, and I was right there. I could hear the people talking about the sweet Buddha. People are always sticking their heads around in our garden because we're literally right on the sidewalk, but it happens so often that I just let people oogle things and I go about my business. I didn't think they were taking anything!! I just can't believe it. They were walking by and just decided to lift it. Clearly they live around here. That just makes me sick. And each time they walk by our home they will giggle and think, "Hey, that's where we got our awesome Buddha. Ha!!" Jerks.