After the Glitter Fades: Moving Forward After a Robbery

     Last week, I wrote about starting over in the Palisades after a divorce. I feel so blessed to be able to live here, so close to the ocean, my friends, and the village.   I've created a warm and inviting new home for my daughter and me, and no matter how lonely it often feels when she is with her father, I've always felt safe and secure here.

     And then, last week, everything changed. My home was broken into in the middle of the day,  and for the first time in my life, I was robbed.  Every single piece of jewelry I've ever owned was taken, along with several mementos that meant more to me than my shiniest diamond. Many, many thousands of dollars worth of jewelry is gone. More important, my most treasured pieces were those that signified a milestone in my life....memories that no amount of money can ever replace. 

My beloved late grandmother's pearls....given to me just weeks before she died, in honor of the upcoming birth of my baby girl, who she never got to meet.

My engagement ring...a symbol, despite my recent divorce, of the happiest time of my life.  I wore that ring with such pride and love, and after the end of my marriage, kept it in its little velvet box, an eternal symbol of the love that sustained me for 17 years.

My wedding ring...see above

My college and high school rings....achieved and worn with pride many years ago. Symbols of my love of learning and reaching my goals.

My high school graduation pearls....Polished and perfect, in a pale blue velvet case from Tiffany, I wore them hundreds of times.

A diamond bracelet from my husband received on my 40th birthday....delicate, sparkling, classic and simple. I wore it whenever I wanted to feel elegant and timeless.

The Tiffany bracelet presented to me by my first 6th grade class at Crossroads, the earrings I bought in Paris, the hoops and chains and studs and strands that saw me through every day, every moment of my life....countless gifts and purchases, endless memories and milestones.

The bastards who robbed me also took the plastic bracelet the nurses put on my newborn baby's wrist (worth more to me than almost anything), the acceptance letter I received from Columbia University, welcoming me to their Masters program, the dried roses from my wedding bouquet, and the last letter I ever received from my grandmother. These are the things that can never be replaced, that sparkled only in my heart when I looked at them, tucked neatly away in the bottom drawers of my jewelry box.

I cried for an hour or so after discovering what had been taken, jolted by the loss and violation, the why me's and the what now's abundantly at the ready. As I waited for the police to arrive, I truly wondered how much more I could possibly take this year, and began to envision myself as a modern day Job.My beautiful life by the sea was slowly morphing into "Titanic 90272".

And then I remembered what good old Nietzsche said (thank you, Columbia), and for the first time actually thought perhaps it might be true.  That which does not kill us makes us stronger.  I realized how much worse it could have been. Thank God my daughter was at school.  Thank God.  Thank God we weren't raped, killed, tortured, hurt.  Thank God we still had each other. This year I've gotten through a separation and divorce, a move, the selling of our house, two blackouts, a car accident, and now a robbery.  I'm not sure the old me could or would have made it through all of this in one piece. But I did, and I will.  I'll get that sparkle back on my ears and on my fingers.  More important, I'll get that sparkle back from the inside.  And nobody can ever steal that from me.

Are you there, God?  It's me, Robin.  Please go easy on me for a little while. And thanks.