IF ONLY........

IF ONLY I hadn't taken the camera at all......  IF ONLY I had taken the time to cover it up......  IF ONLY I had just put it in my purse when I got out of the car.... IF ONLY.......

Once something bad happens we go over and over events in our minds trying to figure out why we did what we did...why we didn't do something differently?  It's torturous to one's mental state and really doesn't do anyone any good, but it's how the mind works nonetheless!  

Friday night, we were excited to meet a group of friends at 5:00pm at Lupe Tortilla in Houston - the one at 59/Kirby.   The boys and I drove in from Kingwood, and Harry was meeting us there (straight from work) at 5:00pm.  The boys and I got there a little early, around 4:45pm, and I decided that since I was handling my big purse AND both boys, that I would leave the cute little basket with the towels (to help clean up from playing in the infamous sandbox) and camera (to capture the cute moments) for Harry to go get out of the car, a few short minutes later, when he arrived at 5:00pm.

Well, as you can imagine, I got caught up in talking with friends, drinking a margarita, and enjoying our gathering, and I forgot all about the basket containing the towels and camera.  That is....until around 7:45pm when we were leaving for the evening, and a police officer met us as we were walking up to our car.  I immediately had a sick feeling to my stomach.

Our front passenger window was broken, and our camera was stolen from the car.  What?  You mean they didn't want my cute little basket too?  :-) 

Apparently, this has been a problem at Lupe Tortilla for a while now - there are frequent "hits" in the evenings and on the weekends.  We also found out that since Hurricane Ike, Lupe Tortilla has not replaced outdoor lighting so parts of the parking lot are very dark.  Blah....blah....blah.  None of this helps me now, right?

While Harry stayed to complete the police report, the boys and I loaded up in his car and drove home.  The boys fell asleep in the car very quickly, and I had lots of quiet time to reflect on the mistakes that I made, and how I could have (should have) done so many things differently.  IF ONLY I had done this...IF ONLY I had done that.....  Ugh!

In the end, nothing can be changed.  It could have been much worse, and we feel blessed that no one was hurt.  We're moving on - getting our window repaired today, and getting a new camera in the coming weeks. 

In the end, I think the lesson is for me to be more careful and cautious.  I am sure that throughout life, I will continue to use poor judgment and make mistakes, but I can guarantee you that leaving valuable belongings in the car - especially in plain sight - will not be one of them! 

I share this post with you so that you, too, can learn from my mistakes, and be careful/cautious in the future!   Especially if you are going to Lupe Tortilla at 59/Kirby.  :-)

IF ONLY I had read a post like this one prior to Friday night!  IF ONLY........