Snatcheroo

I've got to write about the events of today before it's past.
This morning Nana, Abby and I headed over to Granny and Grandpa's house to pick up Granny and take her to her physical therapy appointment. After we dropped her off, we had 90 minutes to kill before we had to be back to pick her up so we headed out to the mall. We made a return to Macy's, bought Nana a shirt and then walked over to see the mall Easter Bunny. I normally wouldn't think of doing the traditional mall bunny photo shoot because I just assume my children would be repulsed by a character in a big bunny suit, (think Chuck E. Cheese-yuck!) but Abby was inexplicably thrilled. We had her picture taken and printed out, for a mere $21.75, what a deal! It turned out so cute, she had even brought her own precious bunny she's had since birth, (you know the bunny) to show the easter bunny. We then meandered over to McDonalds for a little lunch. Abby played in the play structure while Nana and I sat at the table eating. Finally at 12:30 we figured it was time to wrap things up so I went inside McDonalds to get my final soda refill(of course).
As I came out, I notice some commotion and some women waving their arms and Nana standing there looking totally stumped. The women are saying, did you see what happened? and for a second I panicked as I looked for Abby. Just as the blood started rushing out of my legs, I saw her peek around Nana, calming my worst fears. Then a lady says to me, those guys just ran off out the door with your purse! It was the strangest thing! I guess that as soon as I had left my seat, with my purse next to it, assuming it was safe since Nana was sitting right there, two men ran down the corridor, snatched my purse and ran right out the exit. Right there in front of Nana and about a dozen other people. Crazy!
We got mall security on the job immediately, they were so pumped to have something to talk on their walkie talkies about, and they got Escondido police there fast. The officer questioned me and the witnesses. I started detailing what was in my purse of value, my wallet, check book, bunny pictures...the bunny, you know the bunny, etc. Abby soon realized the "bad guys had taken her bunny". The officer we had was our angel today. He told me that he is a father of three girls and I explained the importance of the bunny to which he looked right at Abby and said, sweetie, I'm going to get you your bunny back. I'm thinking, dude, I don't think this is going to end pretty. Then I realize, my car keys were in the purse, oh and my extra set of car keys too...so dumb of me, I know. My Dad went and got my Mom from physical therapy and then came and picked us up at the mall.
We were a pretty sad group. When I got home I searched all over and finally found the valet key for my car, thank goodness, so I headed back to the mall to get my car. As I'm driving there I get a call from the Escondido police department telling me that the officer found my purse and to meet him at the back side of the mall. Unbelievable! I pull up, see his car parked there but empty and I just wait. Pretty soon, I see my angel walking down the sidewalk, my purse in one hand and in the other, you guessed it, the bunny.
Turns out, he searched far and wide through Kit Carson park and found my purse tossed deep in a bush. Amazingly, everything had been rummaged through, down to every last card, but everything was there. The thief's had bent all my credit cards and driver's license in half(who knows why, but he said they "left their dirty fingerprints all over the cards") and then tore all my kid's school pictures up (again, why?). The police department is keeping my purse and it's contents to dust for fingerprints and they said they got a very clear shot of the thieves on the mall security cameras.
A couple of wonderful things came out of today:
1. For a split second, seeing all the commotion, I initially panicked and feared something indefinitely more precious than my purse had been snatched. The moment I saw Abby I knew that nothing else really mattered. How's that for a huge reality check?
2. Ironically, I went to the ATM at the mall right before the bunny photo shoot to withdraw some cash, seeing as I had $0 in my wallet after the weekend. The ATM said it could not complete my transaction. I tried twice. I was planning on pulling out $100. My card worked just fine to pay for the photo and lunch. Just wouldn't work to get out cash. I guess all the thieves really wanted was cash. Sorry Suckers!
3. We had an angel on our side today. Officer J. was the hero for us. What a great guy. I have no idea how he found that purse in a bush in that huge park, but by golly he did. To top it all off, he goes back to his cruiser and pulls something out. He hands me an envelope and says, I went back to the Easter Bunny photo place and got them to print out new pictures for you. Seriously, I just lost it at that point. What an amazingly good man!
4. I was reminded today that although there are some bad (stupid) people out there, there are so many good people in this world! The other Moms that witnessed this and the security guards and of course, Officer J. were all so nice and supportive. No one likes to see the bad guys get away!

My take away for everyone is this, this was a crime of opportunity. I let my guard down, assuming no one would bother my purse with Nana sitting right there. Of course we were all distracted watching after our children, as it should be, but these guys were waiting for the moment to be just right, and they seized the opportunity. Keep your purse close, and carry the minimum cash and cards with you that you can get by with.

Today there was silver lining on my cloud!