The Subaru returns!

This morning, at 3 a.m., I got a call from the Kent Police, informing me that yes, our car had been found, and yes, it appeared to be "driveable". Could I meet them at the site in twenty minutes? No. The car was towed.

This morning, at 8 a.m., Mitch set out for Kent with our friend Tuoc, on a grand adventure to reclaim our estranged vehicle. We were thoroughly (I think) prepared for the worst: to never see the car again, or to find it on blocks somewhere, minus wheels, CD player, several windows, ignition switch and so on. What we did not expect was to find it in roughly the state we'd left it (very messy), with a few things broken (rearview mirror, armrest, glovebox), but for the most part intact.

Nothing was missing, not even the CD player.

Now, from the time we bought the car, the lock in the hatch door has been broken. We've known this. We've looked into getting it fixed, but the fact that it would require an enormous amount of labor and the replacement of certain parts that are otherwise in fine condition deterred us from ever actually having the lock fixed. Yet, somehow, the fact that our car does not lock properly didn't deter us from parking it in SeaTac, unchaperoned, for an entire week--and look where that's gotten us.

But here is what we really did not expect: we got our car back (oh joy!) with a few things broken, but with one surprising thing fixed.

That's right.

The hatch locks.

Also, Jesus Christ Superstar survived unscathed. That's an awful lot of answered prayer, right there.

Hooray!

The car turned up in Kent! The officer who called us (at 3:00 am this morning) said it "looks driveable." That must mean that the wheels are still attached, right?

We've yet to go pick it up, so more info later.

A tragedy

We just discovered that our copy of Jesus Christ Superstar: The Motion Picture Soundtrack was in our car, wherever it may be. We also discovered that, unlike the other CDs we lost, Superstar was not in our computer library, nor was it on either of our iPods.

It's one thing to steal our car. But to steal Jesus Christ Superstar? That's another thing completely.

To help soften the blow, here is a picture of Gunner, atop the cat palace Mitch constructed out of old boxes and packing tape:

Warm and fuzzy

Since the news broke about our stolen car, I've been humbled by the response from the folks at Oikos: at least five people have offered to let us borrow their cars, either indefinately or on an as-needed basis, and plenty more have offered us rides, whenever we need them. Still more have come forth with offers to help in any way they can.

We keep asking ourselves what it is we need to learn through all this, but maybe it's as simple as learning to accept help when we really do need it, though I'm sure there's plenty more to be learned as well--how little we need our possessions, but how much we rely on them, for example. How stupidly attached to them we become. I don't miss having a car nearly as much as I miss having our car. Alas.

But thank you everyone, for all your help already. It's good to know we're so completely surrounded by wonderful people.

A good trip, though sadly eventful

It began well enough. Mitch's mom and her boyfriend recently bought a house in an "active adult community," so we spent the first few days of our stay in Arizona helping them get set up in the their new home and tooling around the new, unfinished community in golf carts. We ate lunch at the clubhouse, toured the new, unfinished Sports Center and walked through finished, fully-furnished models of the model homes (decorated in charming, if slightly ridiculous, themes).

Here is a picture of a sunset, taken from the back step of the new house:

Here is a picture of Mitch's mom, Teresa, and I, baking snickerdoodles and pretending that we're on a cooking show:

All was lovely and sunny and happy until New Year's Day, at approximately 12:15 am, when I woke up suddenly and spent the rest of the night on the bathroom floor. As it turns out, I came down with a bad flu that kept me in bed for all of Monday (I am prone to exaggeration, I know, but this is absolutely not an exaggeration--I was weak and feverish and made it out of bed once, the entire day, to go to the bathroom) and a good part of Tuesday. By Wednesday I was up and moving, though not quite at full speed, and Mitch and I set off in a borrowed car to visit some friends in Globe, AZ.

Here is a picture of Globe, taken through the window of the old courthouse, which has now been converted into an art center:

Our Globe friends recently opened a coffee shop, so we spent a good part of the time sitting around at the coffee shop, drinking coffee and visiting or sitting around at their house, playing Guitar Hero (or watching Dora the Explorer with their adorable daughter) and visiting. The night that we spent in Globe was the night of the full moon, so when I woke up in the wee hours to use the restroom (our guest room was not attached to the main house), I had the distinct pleasure of walking through the backyard in the blazing moonlight, with all the constellations in full view.

Beautiful.

Here is a photo of Dezi, who opened the coffee shop, who also married Mitch and me four years ago:

Here is a photo of me watching Dora the Explorer with Laura and her daughter, Eowyn:

...and here is a pretty picture of Austin, Laura, Eowyn and I walking off into the Arizona sunset:

We drove back to Mitch's mom's on Thursday night and stayed there until this morning, when we drove, flew and shuttled our way back to the hotel where we'd parked our car for the week only to find...

...that our car had been stolen.

Here is a photo of my sad face:

If anyone sees a dejected-looking Subaru wagon wandering the streets of SeaTac, please tell it to call home--we miss it dearly. We spent the evening talking to the hotel staff, the police, my parents and the Airporter Shuttle before finally managing to make it, at last, home.

Here we are. We're glad to be here. Even if Armand, Subaru of the Night (as he was fondly called) cannot be with us.

...but the racing wheels really do look awesome.

This evening, Mitch and I enjoyed an impromtu walk home in the snow. All the trees were a-glitter, the air was crisp and clean, but we weren't out walking for pleasure, oh no, we were walking because we discovered, in the parking lot of Fred Meyer, that the back left wheel of our car was flat. (This discovery was, of course, preceded by a loud thump halfway down Lincoln St. and Mitch's startled "What was that?")

And so it was that we spent the dinner hour shoulder-to-shoulder with a few disgruntled folks waiting to get their snow tires, before finally quitting the scene and walking briskly down to the bus station, all the while reciting the positive aspects of the situation. Such as: the tire didn't go flat last week when I was driving, by myself, down to Seattle, nor did it go flat on Saturday, when we drove down to Everett and back in the rain. Mercifully, when it did go flat, the tire waited politely until we were half a block from a discount tire shop--that was quite considerate, I must say.

In the meantime, we're snug as bugs here at home, trying not to remember what it cost last time we had a tire replaced--because it escalated to having all four tires replaced with awesome-looking (but quite costly) 17-inch racing wheels, due to the some customizing that the previous owner had had done.

Thank you, previous owner. Thanks a bunch.