Stolen journal

Madrid's never had a big problem with hard crime, but right now, at least, it certainly has its share of soft crime--pick-pocketing on the metro, mostly. I've been keeping my wallet inside a zipped smaller purse which has lain at the bottom of my larger red purse, underneath a pile of books, notebooks, and sometimes my journal, which I like to write in going from place to place. Any pick-pocketer would have to be brilliant to get to my wallet, I thought. Maybe I was proud of myself for taking such uncharacteristic precautions. That is until last Sunday when I got robbed--of my entire purse. I met up with Biz, Tim and Helena (my new Swedish friend) for coffee at Starbucks. Helena and I had found the perfect table for the four of us--downstairs with four cushy chairs, right before the crowd hit. At some point before splitting a cheesecake and frappuccino with Elena I must have set my purse down on the floor next to my chair. I didn't realize it was missing till 30 minutes of laughter and good conversation. I am now missing a lot of freshly-withdrawn money, my five-year-old camera (with great pictures on it! but I can get those from other people) and my journal that I've kept for the past YEAR. My JOURNAL! I've kept a journal almost since I could write, and now there's a whole very important year MISSING! Oh, I am so sad. Can you imagine losing much more valuable than your camera and your journal? I was strangely comforted to hear of a woman who'd lost a $10,000 ring her dying husband had given to her before he passed away. She'd taken it off her finger to keep in safe in her purse. Yeah, that would probably be worse than this.

I filed a police report, but haven't heard any word, yet. Sometimes they find purses in garbage cans a month after the event. I shouldn't get my hopes up. But, really, well--any words of encouragement, consolation, false hope, straight-up lies? would probably be appreciated. :( :)

Drew said something about all this that made me thankful for friends like him: that journaling does something that is a lot more than the end result of a journal. All wasn't wasted. (thanks, buddy.)

Other than that, our dear friend Tim left this afternoon to go home. We'll miss him and his easy-goingness and good conversationalness (esp. Biz!). And his straight-up kindness: he helped me search for my purse in the garbage cans of Madrid. In vain, but, it was still so nice.

I've been taking evening walks--after I finish au-pairing but before it gets dark (around 10 pm these days). Tonight I walked to a place with a view of the mountains, which made my heart happy.

I started reading "A Severe Mercy" the other week (it was in my purse when it got stolen) and it got me thinking about L'Abri for next semester... I'm really leaning towards going there now. Maybe in Boston? :) Seth's thinking about it, too, which would be so nice, just to be in the same place, reading and discussing the same things. I'll keep you posted. And I'll keep you posted on the purse situation.

Un beso!