Sunday, November 19, 2006

Keeping with it....Stealing

Really, I have lived my life learning from the mistakes of others, picking & choosing which mistakes I would make on my own. Sometimes, I think that quality is a girl-thing.
Thievery...unacceptable by many, inevitable to all in one way or another.
My first lesson came from my dear brother and his stealing of my Big Wheel. He got busted & I took note as to the how's and why's....if I ever stole I would do a better job.

Shortly before or shortly thereafter, I accidently stole a piece of gum. My uncle had taken me to the corner store & told me I could pick any candy I wanted off the bottom shelf.
Oh, so many choices...bubble gum, lemon heads, red hots, jaw breakers.
I guess I took too long because the next thing I knew my uncle was walking out the door, calling for me to come along. I quickly made my final choice & ran to the door. When we got home, he told my mother that I stole a piece of gum. I had no clue what he was talking about. My uncle explained how I took too long, so he just paid for his stuff & headed for the door. He didn't know & hadn't paid for the piece of gum I was smacking on. LOL, I thought the mistake was his until Momma drove me back up to the store, made me pay for the gum, explain what I did, apologize to the clerk...and then, she had me pick up trash in the parking lot.

Since then I think I have taken something that wasn't mine two times.

Once in HS, I found a wallet empty except for a public library card. I picked it up & showed it to my friend, telling her I could take it to the library. She laughed, threw the library card away & handed it back to me saying 'screw that... looks like you got a cool new wallet.' And I did have that wallet for years & years. One night it was taken out of my pocketbook along with all of its' contents, which included about 50 cash and some credit cards. The theives got an additional 200 bucks thanks to the plastic. I just ate it. I felt like it was karma kinda coming back to me. That wallet was never really mine and I had always known I was using it on borrowed time.

Then, when I was in my 20's I took an old metal horse from the park. It had broken off its foundation and someone had propped it up by the monkey bars. It was about 2am & as I drove by I thought 'Hey, that'd make for great lawn art.' (What was I thinking?) So I stopped & hurled it into my vehicle. Years later it was stolen from me & again, I was hit with the pangs of guilt because I knew it was never really mine.

As a kid, I read a lot & I remember reading some tale about a kid getting trapped in the Smithsonian overnight & I decided that if I were to ever be a thief, I would do it big-time. I'd wear all black & be all high-tech escaping all kinds of electrical detection devices and I would steal something physically small, but very significant like the Hope Diamond or maybe Elizabeth Taylors' jewelry or something.

Well, I haven't done that & I don't guess that I ever will.

Instead, I just steal time... time, here on the computer, on this blog or elsewhere, up late at night with my dogs, in the woods... when I can, camping with my hubby and soon, down in the Sunshine State with my wonderful, missed family.

Stealing time.

It's like if I don't steal time, it'll steal from me.

15 comments:

Anne said...

(((Skinny))) - sorry, for some reason i was unable to post a comment to your last post, but my main point was going to be that children's lies can't be compared to adults' lies. An adult has a different mindset and should know better. Somehow adults' lies have a more evil (for lack of a better word) quality, and adults should be held accountable for their actions on a different level than children. Enemy of the Republic and DykesDog happen to be writing about this too. Guess there's a lot going on. Maybe i'll write something too.

Now about this stealing thing - what you need is an accomplice and some theme music. I'm thinking maybe the Mission Impossible theme song. Oh, and don't forget squeaky toys to distract the guard dogs. Good thing you'll be wearing black. Diamonds look good on black. LOL. I don't really consider all those things you mentioned "stealing" time, just enjoying the time that is rightfully yours to use.

So you have a lot of work ahead of you, with moving and all. Moving is probably one of the most emotional, hopeful, depressing, nostalgic, cleansing things a person can do. Please try to post a note once you're all settled in. And remember you have a lot of friends who love and support you.

skinnylittleblonde said...

Ooh Anne...I'm not moving:) I am going there for the holidays! I work in retail & it is just about unheard of, but I got the week before Christmas off & so I'm gonna steal some time away in Fla. :)
LOL, I so adore you.

Nihilistic said...

I have stolen one thing in my entire life...I was in 2nd grade and stole a pair of dice from a board game at school because they were red and see through...I thought they were awesome! All night I couldn't sleep and ended up taking them back to school the next day because I felt so guilty. That was the end of my high crime career.

Mel said...

Mel's 'thieving' career....
How long ya got? *chuckling*

Good grief--I still steal the good french fries from the Brit's lunch at McDonalds....*hanging head*

Better I confess to thieving french fries than to confess to the police car that I stripped (red flashing disco lights went well with the 'stop' and 'do not enter' signs on the walls--and bench seats made for good furniture......).....


Do you KNOW how much a good squad car costs?
LOL I DO!!


Wicker furniture and a cheap disco ball woulda been wayyyy cheaper.

Pixie said...

That was a little mean on your uncles part. AWWW.
If there were more parents like your mum though that made kids face up to their responsibilities then the world would be a better place!

I stole money once from my gran, to buy a smurf! Everyone at school had little plastic smurfs from the local gas station and I wasnt allowed one, so in defience I stole the 30pence needed to buy one.
Oh the shame!

mist1 said...

I stole $20 that my parents left for my babysitter to order a pizza. When it came, she looked around for the money. I casually whipped it out and announced that I just happened to have my own $20 bill. She never said anything to me about it.

Anne said...

Oh sorry. Silly me. Well then, enjoy your holiday.

Me said...

I feel guilty when I steal time. Don't know why, but I feel guilty most when I'm browsing online. It's like I could be doing something 'better' but really I'm simply not allowing myself this downtime we all so dearly deserve.

That story about your uncle was cruel. I remember I got caught stealing a porno magazine from a corner store as a kid. Not as embarassing as gum, though it certenly taught me a lesson.

Baron Ectar said...

Gee - cofessional time - I stole $20 bucks from my grandads wallet once. He never said anything to me - but I know he knew I did it. Instead I got a lecture on thiefs - I never took anything again after that. I would have rather given him the $20 back and confess then get that lacture.

I steal time every chance I get - it bugs the crap out of me when it steals back ...

slaghammer said...

Where to start. I quit stealing sometime around my eighteenth birthday, when pangs of empathy finally overpowered the entrenched hatred I felt for most all humankind. Sometimes it takes a while to get past your raising. I fully expected the flurry of Karmic retributions that followed. Even today, when something goes missing or some jackass invades my space, I do get burned up about it but I still acknowledge the justice of it all. Still paying those debts.

Anonymous said...

I just stole three seconds of your time. sorry about that.

skinnylittleblonde said...

Nihilistic ~ Guilt...I wonder if it's a nature or nurture thing, maybe a mix of the 2.
(Mel) LOL, you are a wild child! You remind me taht once I did steal the letters of my first name & my boyfriends off of the Burger King sign. Oh my...I did say I think...two times. You need to post about some of your wild days!
Pixie~If you knew my uncle, you'd see he just didn't know better himself...but my mom did & she fully took advantage of that opportunity to teach me. Do you still have your smurf?
Mist1~You were nice...you paid for the pizza! :)
Anne~I'll be going for one week...the week before Christmas...can't wait! TY
Orhan ~ LOL...Not as embarassing as gum?! Men! You have no shame, in fact you were probably proud. Hahaha, like my brother & father, when my bro got caught sneaking a girl out of the house at 6:30 one Sunday morning.
Baron ~ Oh the lectures... my Dad's lectures would last for days. Five kids & if 1 of 'em did something way-wrong, we all got lectured...for days.
Slag~Even today, when something goes missing or some jackass invades my space, I do get burned up about it but I still acknowledge the justice of it all. I couldn't agree more ...
Matt~As the saying goes 'what comes around, goes around'

Anonymous said...

I must be the last one to reply:)It's been a hectic day since I have friends staying over.I had to lie to them that that I had some important messages to check and to steal some time for myself,lol!
I had stolen a storybook from my friend when I was in my third grade,she used to have a whole load of books and I used to secretly envy her because at that time we couldn't really afford to spend lots of bucks on storybooks.I got caught by my granny who not only made me go back and return the book but also made me say sorry to my friend and also told me stealing is not the way to go about getting the things that you want and getting things the honest way is what will make you happier.I never stole after that and did learn my lesson well.
got to run,my stolen time has ran out!maybe will steal some more and come back later:)

skinnylittleblonde said...

Fuzzy~ It's never to late to post a comment anywhere here. In fact, my favorite post are buried.
I'm glad you have friends & family to keep you on your toes.
Lessons learned from our grandparents seem to never be questioned. we carry those lessons like armor against our chest & across our hearts.
steal away girl!

Unknown said...

Stealing is an abomination in my opinion. I have been guilty of this on several occasions when I was young and not considered an adult. I almost got caught the first time and that pretty much fixed me. It goes back to the Golden Rule. I don't want people stealing from me so I'm not going to steal from you. The one thing I might be deluding myself about is work. If I don't give 100% or I turn in a time card for 8 hours and I only worked 4 is this theft? The customer has a signed contract and they get what they want for the set price. The contractor makes money. I make money. So everybody wins. Maybe I'm just diluting myself. I don't know. Let me know what you think