Car Theft - We Thought!

It’s not unusual. When I was working in the Midwest I went to get my car after work on the top level of the parking garage. It was gone! I will never forget the feeling I had. It was Christmas Eve day. So I went back inside the hospital, found the security guards and reported the theft. In reviewing film, we watched my car leave the garage being driven by someone else. It was eventually tracked down a couple of months later near Chicago. By then I already had a new car. Today we went to the national mall for a morning walk. We did our usual ParkMobile parking app thing and went to the Smithsonian Castle, back up to the front of the Capitol, through the Botanic Garden, and down to the American Indian Museum. Then we stopped at a bench to order take out at our favorite Alexandria Greek place. When we walked towards where we thought our car was, it wasn’t there! I’m usually very good at remembering where we park. This time I was getting really nervous and the feelings of a stolen car crept back. I thought we were parked in front of the Air and Space Museum, but there was no sign of it. Who would steal a car in such a busy place? Then I remembered that the ParkMobile app has a function that shows you where your car is. I wondered if it would track it if it was many miles away. We were already thinking about calling the police - but my husband said there was nothing to get concerned about. What!? I was so relieved when the app showed that our car was parked in front of the American Indian museum. I still didn’t believe it until I saw it. I was never so happy and relieved when it was located - thinking of all the things in the car that would be lost and the money required to make up the difference between what insurance would pay and what a new car would cost. Having been through it once was enough. Thank goodness it really didn’t happen - but it feels like it did. Even though our car is already seven years old we still like it enough to want to keep it for a while.