Happy Peace Day, Or Not

            April 4, 2002 marked the end of a civil war in Angola. After a long twenty-seven years of fighting, peace was finally restored to the country. April 4^th is now celebrated every year and known as Peace Day. I was looking forward to celebrating my first Peace Day this year, especially considering the holiday landed on a Friday making for a long weekend for us. However, the celebration came with a very ironic twist that no one could have predicted.

            Adam and I made plans to go out to dinner on Thursday night to celebrate. He didn’t have to wake up at six o'clock in the morning, so we thought what better way to celebrate Peace Day than to sit by the ocean, grab a pizza, drink a few beers, and watch the sun sink into the ocean. The evening was absolutely perfect, or so we thought.

            We left the restaurant and headed towards our car that was parked in a spot right out front of the restaurant entrance. As we got closer to the car, something just didn't feel right. It didn't take me long to realize that in fact, nothing was right about the situation. Our reusable grocery sacks that we kept under the seat in the back were strung out on the street. Knowing that reusable grocery sacks haven’t made their to Angola yet and that the sacks on the street were definitely the ones I brought from the States, I became extremely confused as to how they went from being inside our car to now being on the street. I looked at the car and noticed that our driver side window had been completely shattered. Glass was all over the street, the seat, the floorboards, and every other space you can imagine. I looked into the car and noticed that our glove box was open, but completely empty. The only thing I could think about was our passports. My heart sank into my stomach as my mind filled with images of us being stuck in Luanda without passports. We had plans to leave at the end of the month, and there was a now a very real possibility that our trip home wasn't going to happen as we had originally planned. 

            I immediately ran over to the passenger side of the car, opened the door, and started sorting through the glass and documents that covered my seat and floorboard. I found our passports, our car documents, and Adam’s driver’s license all still inside of the car. All luck wasn't completely lost that night because the important things were still there. We sorted through the rest of the car and found that Adam’s iPod, our USB cord, and my Ray Ban sunglasses, which had all been out of view and in our middle console, had been taken.

            We cleaned the glass off of the seats, put all of the documents in our glove compartment, and headed home. As we pulled out of our parking space, I noticed that the car window of the vehicle next to us had also been shattered. I guess the thieves managed a two for one special that night. We spent nearly the entire drive home in silence because we were both in complete shock at how the selfish actions of others turned such a peaceful evening into a disaster.

            We had plans to spend Friday at the beach playing paddleball and swimming; however, those plans went out the window, literally, the previous night. Since it was a holiday, we had to wait until Saturday to have the window fixed. We spent what should have been a wonderful Peace Day at the beach hanging out at home, catching up on laundry, and playing monopoly. Luckily we were able to get the window fixed on Saturday just in time to head to the beach, watch the sunset, and remember that the little things in life, not the material things, are what actually matter. And to the thieves that stole our material things, I hope our iPod, sunglasses, and USB cord were the only things missing in your lives.