Last week, around 7:30p.m., Sue was getting ready to go out for coffee with a friend and I was getting Damien ready for bed.  As Sue left the house for the evening I was just getting Damien into the bathtub.  Less than a minute later I heard the sound of keys in our back door as Sue was coming back in to push the garage door opener button (we have a detached garage with a remote inside our mud-room - we often forget to push it before we leave) and then a moment later our screen door slam as she left, on her way to dessert and discussion.

As Damien played in the tub and I played on my iPod touch (Fare City if you must know) I thought I heard our screen door slam again.  I figured it was probably Sue again - picking up her wallet or something else she forgot - so I didn't go check immediately.  I shouted her name a couple times and got no reply and thought I'd quickly go check if the door was being blown open by the wind.

It was then that I started to think something was wrong.  Something didn't feel right but I didn't know what exactly.

I phoned Sue to see if she had in fact returned inside a second time.  She said she was almost to the restaurant and hadn't been back since she came back to open the garage door.  I hung up the phone and started looking around and quickly realized my wallet and tupperware container of loose change was gone.  I quickly phoned Sue back to see if she had taken my wallet for some reason and perhaps had moved the change.  (Ironically enough she had just bought a bunch of paper rolls to roll up all the change that had collected by our back door).

As you can no doubt guess by now, she hadn't taken my waller nor done anything with the change.  Someone had came into our house, taken my wallet and the change, and left.  I'm thinking they were watching our house, saw Sue leave and figured they might as well try the door.  When they came in, they saw my wallet and the change and then probably heard me and Damien in the bathroom and bolted.

It's quite the unsettling event to have your home invaded like that.  I don't really care about the money (maybe $15 in cash and another $20 in change?).  The wallet was from a trip to Mexico with my family so it has some sentimental value.  There was a piece of paper with the word 'Oats' on it that I'd carried in my wallet since Sue and I started dating (her maiden name is Oatway) that would've been nice to keep holding on to.  It's annoying to have to go replace all the bank cards, license, health cards, etc. but it's just stuff.

What is disconcerting is the fact that someone was willing to walk into our house, not caring about the people that lived there, and just ... take.  Especially from a house that sits on a fairly busy corner, and with all the lights on.  It's an ability that I really lack the understanding for.  To me it speaks volumes of where that person is at emotionally, financially and socially that they are able to do that.

At the end of the day, we know it was a fairly random act and one that we hopefully won't have to experience again.  We still love our neighbourhood, warts and all.  Break and enters happen in any area of the city.

Luckily this was only an enter and nothing was broken.