Not last night but the night before...

somebody broke into my car and ripped out my stereo and ipod. The car was left in shambles too. I had left cup with some left over chai latte in the cup holder which threw on the seat and it leaked. The dash was pulled apart, and pieces are bent, twisted, even broken off. Instead of trying the handle to the glove box, it was pried open with a screw driver, leaving a gouge. My brother's boutonniere from my wedding which was dried and adorning my dashboard is in pieces on the floorboard.

It wasn't just my car either. Multiple cars on the street, and multiple burglaries in town. One of my coworkers had his bike stolen. While Jake and I were talking to the cop about my car his radio kept going off about other streets that had had multiple burglaries. Stereos, ipods, jackets, a bottle of juice? The creepiest thing is...I think they were planning this.

A couple nights ago my sister-in-law said that her car alarm went off in the middle of the night. She's staying with her parents right now. That's where I left my car last night. I've left it there all week and Jake and I car-pool in and out of town. Her truck was also left unlocked last night. She has a nice stereo and ipod, her expensive sunglasses and purse were sitting right on the seat. But nothing was taken out of her car. Our theory is that the culprit(s) checked out the city. Hung around a couple of days, found alarms and such, and last night made a sweep. A little dramatic? Perhaps.

One of the most frustrating things is that I thought about locking my car. I went to get my sunglasses before we left, but was too lazy to fish them out of my purse, so I grabbed the whole thing (thankfully). I thought to myself "I should lock my car." But I was already halfway up the driveway, and looking forward to getting into bed. "If only" has been running through my head all day. If only I'd left my car at my parents' house. If only I'd taken my ipod home last night to charge it like I was thinking about. If only I'd taken the face plate off the stereo.

If only I'd locked my car.

According to the cop we were speaking with this morning, only unlocked cars has been targeted. No broken windows or locks. If only I'd turned around and locked the car. I rolled the windows up all the way. Why didn't I lock the doors? If only.

I've been thinking about "if only." There are a lot of "if onlys" in life. If only things had worked out between us. If only I'd left the house just a few minutes earlier. If only I'd asked for two sugars for my coffee at the drive thru. If only the Republican had been voted president. If only we'd bought a (smaller/larger) (house/car). If only. How drastically different life might be.

The fact is, you only really get one chance at life here on Earth. The words you say, the actions you do, the people you associate with. One chance. How would things change if you had done something different. We'll never know. It's hard (for me) not to get caught up in "if onlys," but it only gets me down. I don't have a stereo...so I'll just borrow Jake's truck to run errands. :)