This Thanksgiving I’m grateful for the the fact that I’m with my two sisters. I’m at my sister Heelya and her boyfriend Brian’s place in Conway, S.C., which is a darling house, despite what happened last night.
The bed I’m lying in right now, tucked under layers of blankets next to PK, is so warm and plush. Even Heelya’s pug Owen snoring under the covers, is warm and plush. He’s curled up on my feet. I can feel his chin resting on my toes. My foot vibrates every time he breathes in.
It took PK and I nine hours and three tanks of gas to get here. I’m grateful that my old Honda held up. We took the back roads through the middle of Florida, passing every tumbledown neon fruit stand selling oranges and peanuts from Ocala to Jacksonville.
It’s chilly out and I’m grateful for that. The weather in South Carolina is at least 20 degrees cooler than Florida. We bundled up last night when we went out for Mexican food followed by beers at a bar called Fats, where we played darts and Baba O’Riley on the jukebox.
I’m grateful I filed at least one story for the newspaper before I left town, because last night when we got back to Heelya’s house, her front door was ajar, the window in her living room was shattered and my laptop with every assignment I’d ever written and every subject I’d ever photographed since August 2007, was stolen.
It was the only thing lifted.
My sister’s laptop, the one I’m using right now, was untouched. Brian’s Xbox was untouched. The other two laptops in their office, untouched. Mine was what they wanted. A grab-and-go kind of thing. They must have spotted it through the vertical blinds, sitting on the bed in Heelya’s spare bedroom, plugged in, charging because I have work to finish on deadline while I’m here.
I actually wrote a story on the car ride up while PK drove. I figured I’d finish the ending this morning, but now the whole thing is gone, including half my notes, which were typed in a Word document and saved on the desktop. When an officer from the Conway Police Department asked me how much it was worth, I said, “a thousand bucks, but the files on it are invaluable.”
The ironic thing is that the hard drive is entirely full. So full that two weeks ago I purchased an external hard drive with one terabyte of space, but Joe and I couldn’t figure out how to format it for a Mac, so we never backed up my files. We figured we’d deal with it once I got back from South Carolina. Procrastination. Again.
It’s a computer, I realize that. Just a material thing filled with Word documents, photographs and two chapters in my lousy novel. In a way I suppose it’s my own fault. I should have backed up my work ages ago.
Last night, after the police officer had left Heelya’s place and Brian had combed the house to make sure nothing else had been stolen, I retreated to my sister’s office to begin rewriting the story I had written on the car ride up.
PK tiptoed into the room.
“Hey,” she said. “I remember a few of the woman’s quotes from that story.”
I had read it out loud to her while she was driving and didn’t think she was paying attention at the time. As she began to recite the best quote of the story with better accuracy than I could muster myself, I thought: this is what I’m grateful for. This moment, stored in my memory bank. Safe from burglars.
When nothing was left to discuss, postulate or bitch about, we all decided that enough was enough for the night, and then slipping into bed with all our most valuable possessions near us, we fell asleep unsettled and settled at the same time.
I’m frustrated and disgusted, but as my father would say, “shit happens, kiddo.”
It’s Thanksgiving and I’m grateful to be with my sisters. While two years of work is impossible to replace, it’s just work. A livelihood. I created it once and I’ll create it again.
I can hear church bells ringing up the street and I can smell my sister cooking in the kitchen. Next to me PK is asleep under a corduroy blanket. I just noticed she has a plastic clip in her hair. It looked uncomfortable to sleep with, so I quietly pinched it out of her bangs and tossed it into the suitcase by our bed.
Heelya is making Belgian waffles for breakfast and Brian just ran to the grocery store to get strawberries for my favorite salad. I’m grateful for all of this and so much more.
Perspective people. Perspective. Arrrgh.
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PS. The photo is of me, Heelya & PK last night on the Riverwalk in Conway, S.C. shortly before we came home and discovered Heelya’s house had been burglarized.
I’m so sorry this happened to you! If you email your work maybe you can recover some of it from your email provider… that’s how I recovered exactly 210 translations last year after the hard drive labelled “work” fell hard on the floor.
I always think about how devastated I’d be if I lost my computer because of the things I have in it…
As soon as I finish this dreadful assignement due tomorrow (if I ever finish it!) I’m doing a back up. At least you know your story helped someone remember about that funny icon called “Time Machine”.
oh, heidi! i’m so, so sorry! and holly too! it’s unsettling to have a stranger in your house. i’m glad the three of you are together!
Oh my goodness. I know how much I love my Mac. It’s a part of me. So for that reason – I am truly sad for you. Pictures are hard to lose. And all your work? Augh. Just sadness.
You are right though – when put into perspective, family and memories are far more valuable than anything.
I drove down to South Carolina last spring. I never would have imagined it was 9 hours from SC to Florida? But what do I know. I’m stunned with directions.
I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving, my yankee friend!
When I heard of your unfortunate situation all I could think of is Why those friggers why they have to pick Holly place , and why during a holiday where evryone is happy and at the same time thankful for life in general.. Heidi I know you’ll be fine and everything will work out just fine. Hey they didn’t steal your turkey, that’s one consolation.
Shit… I wish you would have called me I know how to format external hard drives. When you get your replacement Mac tell me.
people are scum bags, and i am a firm FIRM believer in karma… I’m so sorry this all happened – but at least no one was hurt, and hopefully not too much was lost. I’d be devastated if someone stole any of my stuff…
Hopefully they catch them, and in the very least, I hope those assholes get a mean case of carpal tunnel from using your precious laptop.
hugs and kisses – I hope you guys made the best of your thanksgiving!!!
Heidi, I’m very sorry that your laptop was stolen, and right before Thanksgiving too. I am very glad that the three of you were together and you were able to give many thanks for that. Perspective about the whole thing can be very difficult but your words about the situation tells me that you have a strong view of it and that’s a very very good thing. I hope the rest of your Thanksgiving was fantastic.
Booooooooooo! That sucks man! but I guess now you can justify a new laptop right? The new mac is much more sleek (I am guessing you had a similar one to mine….the slightly chunkier white guy)….
All the best….
-D
P.S Have I ever told you that you look very much like my cousin? I may or may not have a photo of her one facebook….The world is a weird place sometimes…:)
Oh, Heidi! No! Sorry it’s taken me this long to write something on here–I read it on my reader but commenting is too hard on the iPhone and I didn’t have any other internet for a few days. That’s awful! I’m so sorry. We’ve had a rash of break-ins right near us lately and I was terrified the whole time we were out of town for the holiday. I’m glad everyone was safe, but I can understand what a disappointment it must have been to lose all that stuff. 🙁 So sorry.
I needed to read this today, because my husband spilled water on my laptop and probably ruined it. I definitely needed some perspective on what the loss means, but I shed my share of tears!
Hope there are some good things, even better than perspective, that come out of this. A new laptop sure is fun to play with…
Darn it. I had a comment all written out and then it got deleted some how.
Oh well.
Happy Friggen Thanksgiving! Dumbass Burglars!
Update: I ordered my replacement Mac yesterday. Does anyone have a copy of Photoshop I can borrow? 😉
Oh man – that really bites! I am so sorry and so mad for you. I hate that people think they have a right to take something from someone else, it’s so violating! I hope you’ll be able to replace your computer soon and that you’ll be able to get over the loss of your invaluable stories and pictures sooner rather than later. 🙁
That totally sucks that you lost all your stuff…but you got to get a new Mac, right? 🙂 Always looking at the bright side!