Never a Dull Moment

Adventure and excitement seem to be encompassing my life this year. Trying new things, pushing my boundaries and being intentional about living life fully brings interesting experiences more frequently than I expected. And I'm loving it!

Last night was an incredible night! I bought a new shirt, talked to my mother on the phone, met up with a friend for coffee, joined another church's college group for an informal night of worship and ate some delicious ice cream with some friends at Safeway. After all the ordinary evening festivities had concluded, I was blissfully engaged in a joyous phone conversation with a friend who just started a new Bible study. Midnight had just past and the outdoor spring air felt refreshingly nice. As is often my custom, I love to walk around while talking on the phone. So, after arriving at my apartment I set out for a leisurely jaunt around my neighborhood while chatting with my friend about the humorous idiosyncracies of youth and the challenge of packing lightly. My jaunt took me down another side street and across a cute little bridge, though I hardly noticed such details since I was happily caught up in conversing.

SUDDENLY, out from behind a fence, two fellows in dark clothing lept out and accosted me! A heavy-set Hispanic-looking fellow with a red bandana over his mouth snatched the cellphone out of my hand and ordered me to give them everything I had. Dumbfounded and surprised, I stood there for half of a second not quite sure what to do. My very first thought was that maybe this was a practical joke, but that thought very swiftly vanished. Seeing my hesitation the two guys closed in on me and gruffly repeated their demand to empty my pockets. Frightened and still somewhat discombobulated I reached into my pockets and began handing them items. They hastily grabbed my wallet, MP3 player, keys and earbuds. Before I had a chance to think, the second guy, a wiry fellow asked me if I had anything else. I vaguely remember mumbling something about having a pen and some guitar picks, and then one of them handed me back my keys as they started to hustle off back in the direction they first appeared. Quite bothered at my phone conversation being disturbed and considering the hastle it would be to rebuild my contact list, I asked them if I could have my cellphone back, but they were gone in a flash, just as quickly as they had appeared.

My heart was racing as I dashed home, quite thankful that I still had my keys--without them I wouldn't even be able to return to my apartment or my car! I hurried inside and fumbled around in my roommate's bedroom looking for his cellphone. The phone in hand, I took a few deep breaths before dialing 9-1-1. Within 10 minutes I was riding in the back of a police car as numerous squad cars searched the area for the suspects. As expected we did not see any sign of them, even after driving around for a bit. With the search concluded, I told my story to the officer filing the report and called my banks to have them cancel my debit and credit cards. Apparently the thieves had bought gas and picked up some fast food from Jack in the Box.

All in all, it was quite an adrenaline-pumping affair, and I am very thankful that they didn't harm me in any way. They really didn't end up with much ($3 cash, a cheap cellphone, a tattered wallet and a $30 MP3 player). While I got a pretty good deal since I got to keep my keys, my flash drive and lost nothing that 3 hours of work and a couple errands won't replace. As a nice little bonus, I have an exciting story to tell! Out of the three times I've been robbed, this is definitely the most exciting and the least detrimental--though it still would have been nice to finish that phone conversation...