MOVING TO NEW YORK, DAYS 5 and 6 We felt so lucky this Tuesday, all Matt’s co-workers came to help us to move and we had plenty of man- and woman power to load everything in the moving truck. (Since our real moving truck didn’t show up on Friday, our emergency solution, U-Pack trailer arrived 4 days later than our original moving date). We got everything loaded, and the house cleaned ready for the next lucky family who can live in the beautiful surroundings of the Rocky Mountains. We finally left Durango after 8 o’clock when everyone was already exhausted, and with little sadness of leaving the town, we had called home for the past two years. We just felt relieved we were finally on our way to new adventures. Adventures indeed. We arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Tuesday night. Well, it was actually way past midnight, so technically it was Wednesday. I was beaten. My legs were hurting (not a good sign with my blood clots), and Matt was equally tired. He had even worked the night before, on his last night shift with his now ex-job. We got a room, and it only had one bed. I and kids waited outside while Matt got us another room. By the time we finally got all three kids in bed I had totally forgotten that I had left my purse and laptop bag in the car – which I never do. At 5.26 in the morning, only after a few hours of sleep, we received a phone call. “This is the hotel security guard. Mrs. Presnal, your car has been broken into”. I just dropped the phone, speechless gave it to Matt. When we had left Durango, kids had been asking where are we living now, we said in hotels until we get to New York, and Gaby had said “I guess our life is in this car now”. Our whole life WAS in the car. Important papers, business papers, photo negatives from the past 10 years. Not to even mention our travel gear which isn’t really cheapo by any means. Yeah, and my purse, including a wallet and yes, the laptop. I got dressed as fast as I could and I was outside. The rear driver’s side window was smashed, glass everywhere. My Louis Vuitton handbag was laying on the glass on the ground, empty. The kids’ car seats were all torn out of their places, the cargo net was cut open, the leather seats scratched. I reached from the broken window to open the driver’s door, the alarm went off again, but I didn’t care. I sat on the driver’s seat and just started sobbing. I realized with my laptop, the pictures of the past two years were gone, and something I’ve haven’t really told many people about… I started writing a book a long time ago. I had written 11 chapters. They were now gone. Matt was calling the police, and I just went back inside the hotel room and was just crying and crying. I think I finally reached the point that I couldn’t think positively and I was even asking why me, why us, why all this shit keeps happening. I’m not very religious, but I asked God to stop giving me a hard time, I just felt I can’t take it anymore (Read More about my crazy life). I felt so violated. I couldn’t get any sleep the rest of the night and was already eating the hotel breakfast at 6 and vacuuming the car of the glass half an hour later. I had had another good reason Never (never say never..) to leave the laptop bag in the car – it included an extra set of our car keys. Yes, you read it. The thieves had also gotten a set of car keys, and I was freaking out that they will come back and get the whole car! After a waffle breakfast and after fully assessing the situation I couldn’t believe how lucky we were. No, I’m not just saying to be that annoyingly positive person. I really mean it. I figured what had gotten the thief’s attention:

My empty Louis Vuitton handbag had been in our trunk and seeing an expensive woman’s handbag many could assume a wallet or something else of value. Thus the cut cargo net. The bag was empty, what a disappointment (for the thief) and he just threw it in the ground. The laptop bag was in the front, hidden under my tote. The thief found it and figured he hit the jackpot, so he was gone quickly. Even my iPod was in the laptop bag. He had no idea of knowing of all other electronics, nor the cameras we had in the car. He didn’t even look into bag to see the extra set of car keys. What he didn’t know, that in the tote I had my wallet, including all my credit cards. The tote says “Luck lands briefly. Be Ready”

The tote didn’t save the laptop bag hidden under it. But it full of junk saved the thief from taking it. Lucky me. I don’t hold anything against the neighborhood nor the hotel (and that’s why I’m not mentioning the name). We were lucky the hotel had a security guard, without him we could have lost everything. And the hotel manager felt so sorry for us he gave us the night for free and his staff helped me to vacuum the car. On Wednesday morning we started calling insurance companies and glass repair places to get the window fixed. We were out of luck getting the window fixed. Obviously there isn’t such a big need for Volvo windows in Albuquerque, so they told us we would have to wait until Thursday to get the window fixed. We didn’t want to risk anything else anymore and didn’t want to continue driving with a piece of cardboard taped replacing the window. My dear in-laws had been with us since I was hospitalized and they had helped us with the move. They were still with us but it was time to say goodbye for a few days – so they continued driving to Eastern Texas, while we stayed in Albuquerque. Our first stop – buying a new laptop (too bad – Apple store was out of iPhones, better luck tomorrow?). Second stop- finding a highly secured hotel. Third stop – hitting the hot tub and swimming pool with the kids and just relaxing. We deserved it! Fourth stop – dinner and mojitos (for Matt, I just sipped a little bit). After a while of whining; I was making lemonade out of lemon again.