a trip down Dakota Creek in our new-to-us canoe
This is a very strange story. Fair warning. *
Our family has had so many ups and downs this year. Sometimes, it has felt like mostly downs. This story is one of those times, which felt like another new down, but turned into a surprising UP.
I go to a Zumba class every Monday and generally take the kids with me, because Stefan hasn't come home from work, and they have childcare. When we hopped out of the car after the class, Lukka noticed our large 17 foot canoe was missing. Strange, since no one lives near where it is parked. It's hidden behind a fence, so only the people in our small neighborhood area (or all the people that visit one particular neighbor, ahem) would even know it's there. We sort of assumed that our rental company had confiscated it, thinking it belonged to the past tenants who had lived in the spot it sat outside of. We shot them an email and the next morning, we got a reply. Nope, they wouldn't have taken it, and no one knows anything about it. However, the gentleman who was taking care of the lawn the day before (Sunday) said he saw it.
Okay. So it was officially stolen, and we knew the time period of when it was probably taken. Our boat was gone and we were totally powerless. Enter in arguments of, "I *told* you to tie it up somehow", and "great, now we'll just have to spend MORE money on something we already owned!". It was high action with persistent anger and emotion. This felt like just one more rotten thing to deal with. We called the police and had an officer come by and take down some information.
When I feel powerless, I generally start to act. Things I wouldn't normally have done, I do because what else am I going to do? At least I can then feel like I tried. I went around door to door, knocked on neighbors doors whose faces I wouldn't be able to pick out of a crowd, or whom I had never talked to, and asked if they had seen anything.
Sure enough. One neighbor said she saw everything and told me who she saw. I was shocked. Our family had a good relationship with this person, we would have never expected to hear that. She was confident in her assessment and agreed that she would feel comfortable telling the police who it was. It seemed so matter of fact. I was upset and went to communicate everything to Stefan, who also seemed very disappointed, but facts were facts. I relayed the information to the police officer and our rental company, and I didn't really know what to expect after that.
Then, this person's mom showed up at our front door that night, in tears.
* I'm breaking this up into smaller posts because it's a long story, but it's a good one. Stay tuned.
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