HappyThankYouMorePlease

I look into Nicolette's eyes, gently grab her hand, and twirl her like a princess.  She floats in a circle gracefully like a handmade dreidel (solid Israel/Jewish reference eh?). Our eyes reconnected and we continue our spontaneous slow dance.  Above us hang strands of small lights illuminating our every movement.  We are standing in a courtyard in old Yafo, Israel.  All around us are old stone buildings.  It feels like a movie set as faint violin music plays from a local establishment.  If we only had pasta it would be very Lady and The Tramp. No one else is around other than the occasional restaurant host.  It's 6 pm and the sun has just set over the still ocean waters. We dance like we are at prom for no reason other then we don't want this moment to end.  Nic's flight home is at 11 pm so we know our time together is coming to an end.  We savor our last moments. We walk towards our rental car and decide to sit on the bench and relax.  I unlock the doors and Nic heads to the car to put her purse inside.  With a curious tone, she asks "Did you put the back seat down?" I said, "Don't think so... maybe the suitcase pushed it over." I circled the car surveying our belongings.  "Babe, my computer is gone" My heart stopped. We had been robbed.

Well, there ya go.  That was our Wednesday night in a nutshell. From an amazing moment of love to a devastating instant of loss. I'm not even sure how to describe the emotions I felt when I realized the back window was shattered.  My first instinct was to comfort Nicolette and make sure no one sketchy was around watching us.  My next move was to figure out what had happened and what to do next.  We started looking through the car to see what was missing.  Both of our computer bags and Nic's carry-on bag for the plane were gone. Basically everything important we had with us including our computers, passports, cash, jewelry, and even my birth certificate (I will explain why this was in the car in a bit).  The next 24hrs were a whirlwind of a shit show.

I knew we had to get the police involved so I started asking random strangers how to call the cops.  911 doesn't work here obviously.  After speaking with 8 different people we learned the correct number.  A man answered speaking only Hebrew and I was transferred 4 times until someone spoke enough English to understand my situation.  They informed me that police don't respond to the scene and that we would have to head to the local station to file a theft report.  Sweet... we had to drive through the dark streets without a GPS (didn't have a GPS the entire trip which leads to hours of being lost on our adventures).  After making tons of wrong turns and driving down 2 or 3 one way streets, we found the police station.  We entered the large building and were quickly lead to an empty corridor where we were told to sit and wait.  There seemed to be only 3 or 4 people working in the police station so the hallways were quiet and quite eerie.  We were summoned to a small room and greeted by a man who was obviously tired and not excited to deal with two upset Americans.  It took an hour to file the report and we were lectured numerous times about not to leave important things in the car.  Thanks, Srgt. Shutthehellupandfindmyshit.  I asked him what they typically do in these situations.   He simply replied "Not much... maybe it will show up." I wasn't surprised at all.

It was now 8 pm and Nicolette's flight was quickly approaching. I called the US embassy emergency number and spoke with the "night" supervisor.  It was her first day on the job and she knew absolutely nothing.  I could hear her kid in the background yelling about dinner.  Very professional.  We deciding to head to the airport and explain the situation with the hopes that they would allow her to fly home.  We went directly to the American Air customer service and told them or evening events.  They were visually upset for us and made the appropriate ticket changes for her to leave the next day. We would have to go to the US Embassy in the morning and try and get emergency passports. Exhausted, we headed to Herzeliya for some rest.

I haven't even mentioned our emotional state at this point.  The evening had brought such highs and lows that we were on the brink of delirium. Silence with the occasional "are you okay" was my go-to move.  Nic had been a trooper during the whole situation. I held her hand in the car to let her know everything would be fine.  About halfway to the house, we broke free from the situation if only for a moment.  We were trying to figure out why this happened.  Did we manifest the situation with our thoughts?  Did we react the way we would have liked to?   What next?  Our conversations turned to unbridled laughter.  The laughter turned into us singing show tunes at the top of our lungs.  ONE SONG... GLORY... ONE SONG BEFORE I GO... GLORY!  It was a much-needed emotion release.  We smiled at each other and knew everything was okay.

Our quick nap from 1 am to 6 am was anything but refreshing.  We headed to the US Embassy and were quickly turned away because we were too early... oy.  After hanging an hour in the car we entered the secure building and approached the service stand.  We filled out the appropriate paperwork and started the process. If you follow my blog, I mentioned in a previous post that I had lost my new passport two months ago on the train.  My old passport (expires in Feb) was stolen this time.  I was planning on heading to the Embassy to get a new one anyway, hence why I had all my personal info in the car (birth cert, copies of old passports, etc).  As we are speaking with the clerk, a man comes up to the window and starts grilling us on what happened.  He asks, "So both of your passports were stolen right?" He was holding a passport in his hands and said: "The police gave us this one but they didn't find a second one."   He was holding my NEW passport that was lost two months ago!  What a random twist of fate.   I had called when I lost it and was told they would call me if they found it... they obviously didn't because it had been there for over a month.  Although I was happy to have my passport back, I was a bit peeved that they hadn't called me.  If they did, I wouldn't have had my very important paperwork with me the night of the robbery.

Anyways, the important issue was getting Nicolette's documents.  After $150 and 6 hours in and out of the Embassy, she had an emergency passport.  We made a collective sigh of relief as we left the building.  Nature was not done messing with us though, as it started to torrential downpour as we left.  Btw - it rarely rains here and if it does, it's for 10 mins.  This rain lasted a solid 2 hrs.  Perfect to drive in when you don't have a rear back window.  All we could do was smile.

With the situation nearly resolved we headed to nap until the flight.  A somber realization that our adventure was coming to a close was our reality.  It's a funny moment when you have to say goodbye.  You can kiss, hug, cuddle, and hold hands until that moment of departure.  But, because of our current situation, it is inevitable.  With a parting hug and smile, we walked our separate ways.  Just another chapter in the Zacholetteypants book had been written.

It took me a few days to really reflect on the incident.  What was I supposed to learn from this? What could I learn from this?  How do I get a new computer quickly?  I was laying around on Saturday and stumbled upon a movie called HappyThankYouMorePlease.  It was a bit of a chick flick but I was in the mood to relax my mind.  In the movie, there was one particular scene that made me feel okay with my current situation.  The main character had just had something bad happen to her and she was trying to stay strong.  She explained that she believed strongly that all things in life are meant to teach you something.  That whenever something happens to you, whether good or bad, it is up to you to learn from it.  Nature is always trying to teach you lessons so you should say "thank you, more please".

FLASH FORWARD!

Wow... so after finishing this blog today at about 3 pm (12/11) I went to practice.  I had a great mindset and was ready to move forward and focus on only positive things.  An hour into practice I dislocated my shoulder. Luckily, after a minute or so, it popped itself back into place.  Although I was in intense pain, I couldn't help but start hysterically laughing at the situation.  After all, I had dealt with this week, this happened.  The doctor at the hospital said I will be out 2-3 weeks. And yes that is a homemade sling made out of a flag... OY VEY!

What a week... still smiling.