Never the Same Again

This has been an awful morning.

Yesterday, after Kev woke up around 4:30 pm, he went back out to his "hunting room" in our pole barn, and he noticed something else that was stolen. He's tired from working midnights, and he's so sick, and now this. He is so down. We were going to go to Joycie's basketball game, but since he & Sam are sick, I talked him into going to Urgent Care. They both got the Z-pack.

After that, they went to Wal-Mart, and Kev bought a baby monitor. He tried to set it up out in his hunting room, but we think the steel of the pole barn interferes with reception. So now he's talking about getting some other kind of monitoring system. He was so bummed the baby monitor didn't work. Then it was time for him to leave for work.

I'm acting like the monitor is a good idea, but it isn't. It's more likely the thief came while we were gone. And if he comes back, we'll probably not be home to be listening to the monitor. But I won't say that to Kev. He needs to do something constructive, as he sees it, to be more protective of his property now.

When he got home this morning, he went right out to the pole barn. I know he spent all last night thinking of it. And sure enough, he has realized there are more things stolen. Kev had a super nice backpack with stuff in it that the thief took, including a nice saw, the small binoculars, and some other stuff. The thief even went through another nice backpack Kev has (he's got a few of them), and took one thing out of that. This whole thing makes me think the thief was taking stuff he wanted for his own use, not to sell.

Kevin is so disturbed by this. I am, too, but hunting is Kevin's passion. It's truly the primary reason we're living here in the woods. It's what makes him whole after a bad day at work... going out into the woods. And I love it that my husband is a hunter. And now his hunting room has been violated. Kev keeps saying that he just can't believe it. I reply that what's unbelievable is simply that it hasn't happened before now. He's mad at himself for leaving the windows cracked open an inch in the pole barn (to air it out... we do this every year), giving the thief easy access. I reply we just saved ourselves a broken window was all. He says what if it's someone that I know, that knows me, or knows who I am. I reply that it could very well be a neighbor you see all the time. It's driving him crazy. And he is so depressed by it all, which is made worse by how sick he's feeling. Last night he was looking at catalogs and ads, deciding to purchase a cheaper muzzle loader to replace the one stolen, but I threw a fit. I want the exact same rifle and scope for him. Piss on that thief. I don't care that we have to go into debt for it all. Kevin works so hard, and he's bought his hunting gear carefully through the years, and he takes such good care of everything... I told him this morning that at least you will have all new stuff, new binoculars, new flashlight... He just looked at me and said, "I want my own stuff back." On that respect, Kevin and I are the same. Even though everything that was stolen from him is replaceable, most of it with an identical item, he has an emotional attachment to the missing things. Like the Brunton binoculars I gave to him for Christmas a couple of years ago... they were such a surprise, and he never would have bought himself such an expensive pair of binoculars, he was so happy that Christmas morning, and Joycie and Sam were thrilled to give Dad something that he obviously was blown away with. Like his new muzzle loader... Kev and Sam went down to Cabelas together and made a day of it, and they had a great day. Each time he picked up the muzzle loader, the good feelings of that day spent with his son were part of his enjoyment. Kev said, shortly after getting it, that one day it will go to Sam, and Sam will remember when he and his dad bought it. Now that's gone. Forever.