I've got a black belt in long days

Last Saturday, I had the immense joy of walking out my door to the realization that my car was gone. I walked around the neighborhood, second guessed where I parked it but eventually called the police about 9:3o am.

Officer Nunez came and took my statement. When I finally got a hold of my mom that day because my father was in Mexico on a mission trip with Power (Check it out), she told me to call AAA. About two hours after making a claim, I get a call that they found my car in El Monte (about 4:00 pm).

It apparently costs a lot more to get a car out of an impound lot on a weekend so my wonderful roommate Ashley took me to El Monte on Monday to retrieve the car. First, we had to stop by the police department to pick up a release paper. (This was kind of exciting considering I only have impressions of what the interior would look like from television shows. It was kind of low key. Nothing flashy.) The officer took all my information and gave me the devastating knews that he could not release it to me because I am not the registered owner.

However, I used my amazing communication skills and convinced him to do it (meaning he took pity on me and let me call my mom so that she could give permission over the phone.) I would like to think it was the former.

So then Ashley takes me to the classy towing place called "Mac's." Again, did not know what to expect. But considering it was across the street from an Albertos and smelled like grease and oil, it definitely lived up to my expectations.

I pay the exorbitant fee because I just want my freaking car back. Ashley was willing to fight for me but I called her off. It was not a battle I needed to fight. I asked the guy if it's in working condition and in his ever professional customer service voice he replies "I don't know. There are a lot of vehicles here." Thank you kind sir for working with me.

Another worker comes and leads me to the car. I approach with caution and pray that it starts so that I can get out of the place before I let my mind start to wander to horror movies with undesirable consequences. And if it does not start then I would just have to call AAA to tow it and that would just put icing on the whole experience.

I open the door ... and all the emotions stirring up inside of me the past few days just hits me. I just start crying. I didn't cry when I realized my car was gone and I was not able to go work out. I didn't cry in relief when they called and told me they found my car. No, I cried because as I looked at the trash strewn on the floor (because every stored paper was rifled through) and the carved out dashboard (because the fancy $90 Sony radio caught their eye) I just felt violated.

I put the key in the ignition and drove down the street, pulled over, and cried some more. Ashley was great, she just started organizing the crap.

I called my AAA agent and I made a statement, went over some details and just drove it back to my house in Azusa.

Today was a busy day of dealing with details. I took it to the repair shop, went over the damage, went to AAA to get an affadavit notarized and sent to my agent, faxed my towing receipt to AAA so that they can refund that expense (Praise God). And of course when it was all done, I just cried some more because as I was riding my bike from place to place it was just time to think and I started to just hate this faceless individual. I hated that I was being put through all this inconvenience. I hated that I couldn't just let my mom or dad take care of it (seeing as my dad was still out of town and my mom had work and her life 40 miles away). I hated that I had to grow up. I hated that I had to go through old receipts to find just the right information to put on the affadavit. I hated that as I went about my day, I kept thinking of things that were in my car and that were now in the possession of someone else.

But really, its all just stuff. Yeah, I'm sad that my soccer ball was in the back and it is no longer there and I'm sad that most of my CD's are gone and I'm sad that my athletic training pack is gone (don't worry they left the bandaids and tape so I can still save some lives), but again its stuff. And I have a lot to be thankful for through this experience.

Like the mom and pop repair shop that I was referred to. They were so nice and so welcoming. And my wallet and computer were not in there, even though I have been known to leave these things in the trunk. And the person did not take my Taylor Swift cd, which is the one that I was worried most about as I realized it was still in the car. And when I went to AAA today, the lady was super nice and talkative. And my sister had bought me a bike last year that I was able to utilize these past few days (it's a crap bike because the chain keeps catching and the paint is chipping but it has character and it has two wheels.)

And I am also learning to rely on other people for rides (when I really need them-like at midnight after work, I'm not going to bike home. I'm not stupid especially when there's been some timely warnings that out lovely campus safety likes to inform the APU community of). I'm learning to let go because why get uptight over the little stuff.

It's out of my hands. I mean, I have to make sure the agent got all the papers tomorrow, and then I just wait till my car is ready to get picked up.

Until then, I'm just chilling in A town. And dealing with long days. I really think it should be Friday already.