A strange bit of news...

Just over a year ago, my house in Versailles was broken into and vandalized, and about $4,500 in material goods were stolen out of the home. It was rough because that house has been nothing but a constant reminder of a year of my life I'd rather have done differently (save for the few good friends I made out of that disastrous job decision). 

So last year at this time, I was sitting in my little farmhouse miles away from the Versailles house hyperventilating over the outrageous cost of homeowner's insurance following the break-in ($500 for three months). I was literally shedding tears over my grandfather's stolen tools; I was kicking myself for being such a poor steward of something that meant so much to me. I was not sleeping well as periodically panic attacks would hit me over whether or not someone was going back to the house to do more of the same. 

The guys who broke into the house were both caught, and we have gotten all but $130 of the restitution from the kid who was ordered to pay $500. We got a letter in mid-November saying that the kid who was charged as an adult was ordered to pay $4200.  But we hadn't seen any of that money. So I called the probation folks today to ask what was going on, and I spoke to a very nice woman with a very thick accent. She asked me for his name. His indictment number. Then there was a pause.

"He passed away."

"I'm sorry. Do you mean he died?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You're serious."

"Yes, ma'am."

What a strange bit of news.

I called a friend from Versailles and told her the news, and she asked me how he died. When had he died? It hadn't occurred to me to ask.

So I went online, and I looked it up. December 3rd--one month after his sentencing in my case. He was driving. And drinking. And he lost control of his car and hit a tree. They had to use the jaws of life to pry both him and his passenger from the vehicle. They airlifted them to the hospital. They both died. 

I read through the comments people made on his funeral page--everyone said he was very well-raised. He was very respectful. He was very caring about other people. People wrote about how well-mannered he was. He had a two-year-old daughter. And apparently, some girl named Lizzie was falling in love with him and wanted to declare her love publicly at his death. 

It presented a stark contrast to what I knew of him. I knew what he did to my house (spray-painted penises all over the walls and refrigerator, burned the carpets, stole my furniture and personal belongings). I also knew that when he was supposed to be appearing in court for his case in regards to my house, he couldn't make it because he was in another jail for having stolen dog food from a store. And he died a violent, drunken death (and took with him one of his friends) on a road where I used to regularly ride my bike.  

I'm trying to reconcile the whole thing in my head. We still have this house for sale, so I can't say that this brings any sort of closure. We are clearly out all the money that we lost, and we can't recuperate it as a tax deduction--he didn't do quite enough damage for us to be able to claim it as a loss. I'll never get to find out where my grandfather's tools ended up (I was planning to speak to his probation officer today to ask him if he might be able to ask about them). I don't feel as if he ever actually had to make amends for all the damages he did. 

And it's sad that his family lost him.

But I have to say that I also had this reaction of, "Well, that's karma." And I don't mean that in an off-the-cuff kind of a way. I mean it in a sincere, when-you-do-too-many-bad-things-the-world-will-spit-back kind of a way. It's hard for me to comprehend that a 20-year old could have done so much badly in such a short life span. But I only knew of him for a year of his life, and I didn't even know all that much of him. But I know that he managed to cause a lot of damage to a person he didn't even know. 

I don't know how to end this writing. So I'll just end it here.