Dude, Where's My Car?

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I stuck around last night a few hours after work talking to a coworker waiting for it to cool down before I ran errands only to go out in the parking lot and find that someone stole my car. I was out near the car only four hours earlier, and I'm trying to figure out how they stole it without breaking the window. There is no evidence there was ever a car there. And they got a full tank of gas.

I feel violated and disappointed. I was never planning to drive it forever, but I liked having a Saturn, because I thought they showed I had nothing worth taking. Except of course for the car itself. I told the responding officer that I was trying to look like I had nothing worth taking but evidently failed. The car was a tool- to get me to work and back, and I liked having a beater car basically to just get me to work.

The car also had memories. My dogs travelled with me in those cars. I worked on repairs with my dad. And of course it's a great litmus test for people. It was part of who I am, and they stole it.

No word yet, one way or the other, and although I may never drive it again (they at least have to damage the steering column to get control of the car) I can't help wonder if it ended up scrapped for parts, taken on a one way road trip, totalled, burned, or hidden in a garage None of those are fitting ends for a faithful friend. Many people and things that mean something to us end up with inauspicious ends. This is not the one I imagined for my car.

Amidst the shock, I surprised myself by, once I arrived home at 9:45PM, I uttered a prayer aloud that I have only ever said one other time, when someone special was taken from me. "Thank you, Father, for this blessing. I know that thou lovest me and wouldst not allow this to happen if it were not for my eternal best good." I don't know how it will be to my good. I am hoping.

For now, I'm glad I didn't just get new tires on Memorial Day weekend or change the oil yet. Sunk costs into what will probably come back, if I ever see it again, as a vehicle no longer serviceable for the road. It's the "end of an era". To the thief, I have only one thing to say: Dude! Where's my car?