When I got up yesterday morning to attend my yoga class, I didn’t think anything was different. I shut the alarm off, washed up and got dressed for class. But when I walked out to the street where I have parked my car every day and night for the past four years, I noticed something. Actually, I should say that I didn’t notice something. My car was nowhere to be found on the street. I walked up and down the sidewalk frantically looking for my car, trying to figure out if I had left it elsewhere. As I began sweating and my heart was racing, I realized that the last place I parked my car (and the last time I saw my car) was at the very exact space where I was standing. And there was not a trace of it to be found.

(I took this pic this morning, not yesterday when I noticed it was stolen. This is where my car is usually parked on the street, but today there was nothing…)
I turned around to walk back to my house in a frantic state. Who would want my car?! It’s over 10 years old, isn’t flashy, isn’t fast and certainly wasn’t the nicest car on the street. So who would have wanted to take it? I felt so sick and so wronged. Tears started filling my eyes as I dialed the police department’s phone number. However, I had to be re-directed about three times before actually reaching someone who could tell me about my car. I was informed that I had to find out if it had been towed before I could actually report it as being stolen. Was I supposed to know this?! All I knew was that it was gone, that it wasn’t illegally parked and I didn’t have any outstanding or unpaid violations. So just where in the heck was my car?! The third person I spoke to was kind enough to look up my license plate to see if it had been picked up or found by their department. Sure enough, my car was towed on Sunday evening, about 40 minutes after I had parked it for the night. Instead of being in Boston, my car was now about four cities over, just sitting there idle in a tow yard. Yessirree, my car was gone in less than 60 minutes from when I safely parked it. WOW. I couldn’t believe it.

Image Credit – carinsurancequotes4all.com
This is what I imagine happened to my car, since the window was never broken…
The pleasant gentleman at the tow yard informed me that my car was involved in a hit and run in the same city as where the tow yard was located. Apparently, the person who stole my car, didn’t know how to drive it and hit a parked car. Naturally, he fled the scene on foot before he could be caught. The owner of the parked car called the police to report the hit and run and that is when my car was towed. Needless to say, my car was now broken into, involved in an accident, towed away and pretty damaged. Zoinks!

Ouch!

My poor car…

The passenger side mirror is gone, too…

Look at the ignition just hanging there…

Take a look at how far back the driver’s seat is…It’s no wonder the thief crashed my car. How could he see?

At least the thief left me my car parts…

And my American flag…
And if my day wasn’t already fun-filled enough, my next step was to go to the police station to report my car as being stolen. I’m not sure if I looked as if I was the criminal or if the people at the front desk were having a bad day, but I was treated as if I wasn’t telling the truth. Because my car was stolen from one city, was then involved in an accident and found in another city, my story was a bit too complicated for them to comprehend. Finally, I must have broken through to the two ladies because they believed me and my paperwork started getting processed. But before that was completed, I was asked, “why do you have an American first name and a Chinese/Japanese last name?” And then I was asked, “why are Asians mostly short, small and on the skinny side?” And finally I was asked, “why do Asians like to drive cars like Hondas and Toyotas?” I didn’t feel like answering any of this woman’s questions, but I really didn’t have a choice. I was at her mercy and just wanted this process to be over. After over an hour of time, I was finally set free. Not only was my car stolen and I felt violated, but over an hour of my time was robbed from me and I felt violated once again with the treatment I received at the police station.

Image Credit – cafepress.com
All in all, it wasn’t the best of days. However, it certainly wasn’t the worst by any stretch. I wasn’t hurt, no one was hurt in the accident, my car was recovered and it can be repaired. Patrick was able to help me today during my adventure at the police station and was there when I completely freaked out at home this morning. While a material possession such as my car was taken from me, the things that matter the most were not. I still had a safe home to come back to and the support of my husband (and family – thank you Michelle, Dad and Mom for listening and making me laugh!). When I was at the police station, I heard calls coming in for incidents involving assault, a restraining order and a gun shot wound, and I even heard someone loudly screaming in the background as they were getting booked. My car being stolen seemed quite trivial in comparison to some of the other issues that were going on around me. And while today won’t go down in the books as a happy day, it’s definitely a memorable one, and one from which I will learn. Being able to find the lesson or the moral in a ‘not-so-pleasant’ situation is something I like to do. It helps to remind me that life is never perfect and is constantly teaching us, if we are willing to learn. And this is something that can never be taken away from me.
Do you have an alarm on your car? I know people who don’t even lock their car doors. Do you use one of those steering wheel locks? I’m thinking I need to get one…
Namasté,
Nicole


































































































































































































































Hi, I'm Nicole and welcome to Healthy Chow. My last name is Chow and this is my journey to living a life that is healthy and well-balanced. That being said, I thought Healthy Chow would be an appropriate name for my blog! I love to eat, I'm growing my love to cook and I'm in love with family, yoga and creating my own jewelry. This blog was started as a way to remind myself (and the world) that there isn't just one definition of healthy. We each just need to find our own meaning. Please join me as I find mine.
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