A Visit to Fairhope That Turned Bad

There is bad in the world.  Did you know that?  I knew it, but I never believed that it would happen to me.  Before I go into the badness, I'll start my story from the very beginning of the weekend.

Amelia has had a cough.  It has stayed pretty consistent for the past week and seemed to be with some chest congestion, so I decided to take her to the doctor Friday morning.  Although she did have some congestion in the upper portion of her lungs, Amelia was actually diagnosed with Asthma.  The doctor immediately ordered a breathing treatment, so the short visit to the doctor turned into a very lengthy visit with a breathing treatment.  Amelia was not at all happy about this breathing treatment, and it made for a very rough time for both of us.  Fortunately, we worked through it.  The doctor prescribed an antibiotic, cough syrup, and an inhaler.  After a quick lunch and a stop to the pharmacy, it was off to the house to take a much needed nap.  Later that afternoon, I received a call from my friend, Becky in Fairhope.  Amelia and I were scheduled to visit Becky next weekend (26th) or so I thought...  It seems that I was due in Fairhope for my visit on Saturday - as in the next day.  Where has my mind been?  Anyway, after reassuring Becky that I was coming, I began a frantic packing mission so that I would be ready to go to Fairhope the next morning.

The trip on Saturday was uneventful.  Amelia and I made it safely and had a very nice visit and dinner at Becky's house.  It was a relaxing evening.  Becky and I chatted while Amelia played with the fun toys at her house.  She especially loved the play kitchen.  While playing in the den, Amelia opened the french doors to the backyard,  Becky quickly locked them to make sure that Amelia did not open the doors again.  She SO enjoys opening and closing doors, and we knew that this would go on forever if we didn't stop her from the start.  I put Amelia to bed shortly after, and Becky and I chatted a little longer before heading to bed around 10:00.

The next morning, Becky and I began making our plans for the day.  We fed Amelia a light breakfast, because our first plan was to head to brunch at Thyme By the Bay.  It is one of the highlights of my trips when I am there on a Sunday morning (the only day they offer brunch).  As we began to get ready, I realized that my purse was missing from the kitchen counter where I left it the night before.  Becky's was also not in the spot where she usually puts it, but she thought she might have left it in the car.  We searched the house for both purses but quickly realized that they had been STOLEN!  I called the police to report the break-in.  While I was on the phone with dispatch, one of Becky's neighbors called to tell her that our purses were found in her trash can.  It was a miracle that she found them because she was putting them on the curb to be picked up the next morning and happened to open 1 of them (not both of them) to put something in it, and our poor, violated purses were right on top.  Our identification was still there, so she was able to call.  We met the neighbor in the yard and looked through our purses.  The cash was missing and so was my car key.  Fortunately, our credit cards and identification were still there.  My car was still in the driveway, so it was not stolen nor had it been broken into, but I had no way to access or drive my locked car.  I have a special card key that controls the engine cranking and you can't drive the car without the key.  A locksmith can only open the door, but you can't drive it.  The police arrived, and we went through what had happened.  They said that there was a string of break-ins to houses and cars that night (7 houses and 10 cars at that point).  I know it could have been so much worse but knowing that someone came into the house while we were sleeping, stole our things, and kept my car key was completely unnerving!  They still had access to my car!  I couldn't drive nor could I get the car seat out of the car to go anywhere.  Becky had been sleeping in the room next to where the break-in occurred and never heard anything.  Someone was walking around the house while we were sleeping, and I can't imagine how differently things would have been if they meant to do us harm.  It is so scary!  After giving statements to the police, locating where our purses were dumped out in the yard, and searching the property for my key, I realized that Amelia's cough medicine was also missing.  I called the police back to report it, and they said that this increased my case to a felony charge (Becky and I were considered separate cases).  I have no hopes that the individuals will be caught, but I would love to know where my key is.

I was so shaken up, because I kept thinking that the intruders could have really hurt us, and they could still come back for my car.  I called David and explained what was happening.  The only way to solve the car problem was for David to drive to Fairhope to bring me my spare key.  I couldn't meet him half way in Becky's car because (1) Amelia's car seat was locked in my car and (2) we couldn't leave my car unattended in case they came back.  No one would think anything about someone coming to take a car when they had the key.  So...David and Bailey made the drive to Fairhope to rescue us.  It was great to have him there with us that night.  He searched the property for my car key and ended up finding someone's iPad that had been stolen.  We again called the police and asked them to return to the house.  The iPad had not even been listed as one of the stolen items nor was the owner's address on the list, so I'm sure the owner was surprised when the police showed up at his house with it.  This also added another house to their list.

Monday morning, David began phone calls to car dealerships and locksmiths to try to find out what needed to be done about getting a second car key.  We obviously need a spare!  We all went downtown to the fun toy shop and let Amelia play.  While we were there, an investigator called and needed to meet with us at the house.  We left the toy shop (much to Amelia's dismay) and went back to the house.  He had us write up statements and walk the property with him.  He suggested that David and I switch cars since David was headed back to Birmingham later that day, but Becky and I had already decided that I would park my car in her garage and leave on Tuesday as planned.  We had lunch and put Amelia down for a nap.  David again looked around the property and in the neighboring yard to try to find my key, but he had no luck.  He ended up leaving for Birmingham after Amelia woke up.  That afternoon, we tried to get our fun visit back on track.  Becky, Jennifer (another friend who was also in town but did not arrive until mid-day Sunday when all of this was going on), Amelia, and I headed out to shop around town and have an upscale dinner.  Jennifer has a friend who owns the Wash House Restaurant, so that it where we decided to go.  Dinner was fabulous and just what we needed to get our minds off of what happened.  We went home and chatted for a bit before heading to bed. 

This morning, Amelia and I gathered our things and relaxed at Becky's house.  We all went to lunch at a good Peruvian restaurant in downtown Fairhope and then Amelia and I got on the road to head home.  Jennifer will head home tomorrow.  I hated to leave my sweet friends, but I look forward to the next visit with them.  I hope that next time, we won't have to meet so many of our friendly police officers. 

Please pray for my friend, Becky.  I know that she will need God's peace when she spends her first night by herself in her house.  She seemed to be doing okay when I left, but she was very shaken up because she didn't hear anything and was a wall away from where they entered the house. 

If anyone is in the Fairhope area and finds a smartcard key to a Mazda, would you please send it to me?  It just may be mine that was stolen. 

Amelia had a great time eating lunch.

These are photos from the toy store in Fairhope.  Amelia LOVES this place, because they have lots of things for children to play with while their parents are shopping.

It was time leave to go meet the investigator.  Can you tell that Amelia does NOT want to leave this riding toy?

Filling out my first written statement for the police.