I was very hesitant to post this. I know that the victims of crime sometimes feel embarrassed or even guilty. So here goes.

Yesterday, we received a call from our alarm company that the door to the mudroom had been breached. Diane hurried home because RCMP will not investigate unless an owner is on the premises. While she was on her way the alarm company called me to say RCMP would be delayed by more than a half hour. I couldn’t reach Diane on her cell so I immediately left work. I didn’t want her to walk into a situation alone.
As I was driving up the mountainous roads to the house I was passed by several undercover vehicles with flashing lights. When I reached the house Diane was standing out on the driveway holding one of our dogs. She met me at the truck and said that RCMP would not let us near the house until the canine unit had searched the house and premises. Someone had kicked in our door, shattering the frame and sending pieces of metal, drywall and wood about 20 feet into the next room. Our dog Scout was in that room. The RCMP allowed Diane to get Scout out of the room before that canine unit came in.
(Luckily I had set the alarm that day. I must say, we are not always diligent about setting the alarm, but Diane had had a dream 2 nights prior and had insisted we start setting it every day. I had had a disturbing dream about an intruder the night before. Question: Do we have a foreboding or do we create realty?) The canine unit (which was awesome to watch) cleared the house for entry and told us that the intruder(s) had approached and left in a vehicle. So hoping it had just been some kid making trouble was not the case. We were supposed to search the house and look for missing items. We could not see anything visible missing (jewelry, lap top, etc., all there) The RCMP said to keep looking; it was highly unlikely that they didn’t take anything even though they were probably scared away by the alarm. RCMP also told us how lucky we were that the dogs were not killed as they had seen this happen many times in this situation. Our insurance company sent over an emergency contractor to secure the door while a new door/frame could be ordered.
I am home from work today to meet with the alarm company, contractors, etc. We are pretty traumatized.
This is where the embarrassment comes in. We left the high crime and uncertainty of a large metropolitan and dangerous city. In Las Vegas we had (liberal readers don’t gasp) concealed weapons permits and were trained and authorized to use concealed hand guns. We gave this up gladly to move to, what is for us, paradise. Now, as victims we feel totally violated. I don’t know what level of security we can have to make those feelings go away. I am grateful that things did not go much worse. Believe me we have gone over the worse case scenarios last night. We would willingly put all our belongings out into the street with a sign that says “free” rather than have any harm come to our dog children or to each other. I guess that is the truth of the matter. It is all just stuff. But the emotions are all still there. Embarrassed and violated.

With all that said, this is still the best place on earth. We just have to reevaluate a few things. I’m going to be looking for a job that is closer to home, so that I can be here within minutes versus the more than half hour it takes now and come home at lunch. We are now hesitant to go on vacation. We have friends who will check on the house while we are gone, but is that enough? I have set it up with the alarm company that we will have a guard service. If the alarm goes off and we are unavailable a guard will be dispatched and he/she will call RCMP if necessary. Is that enough? We are talking with contractors about a gated entrance to our property and the quarter mile long drive. Will that feel like enough?

This weekend is our 1 year anniversary of our move to Canada. We love it here and don’t regret that move for one minute. We are just sorting out all these other emotions, as well. Thanks for listening.