I went down to the garage in my condo building this morning to drive to my regular Saturday morning meeting and discovered that my car had been stolen. Dang it. This is now the second time this has happened in 18 months. It happens to be a very popular car for car thieves because it's easy to steal.
So I've reported it to the cops & my insurance company and I now know the drill since I've done this all before. I'll pick up a rental car tomorrow & this will all work out. The good news is that I'm sober, and there's no contraband in my car that I need to be worried about being found by the police if the car is recovered, and the fact that I live a sober and more responsible life today means I have insurance that will take care of this, and I didn't have to make a big frikken drama out of it when talking with the police this morning or when I was on the phone with the insurance. I actually had a couple of really nice conversations and thanked everyone for being so helpful. Only real regret is that I missed the meeting this morning, darn it. I'll call some of my AA friends after they are out of the meeting and check in with them.
I'm grateful that I'm no longer living the kind of life that would make me feel the need to break into a garage and steal a car.
And I arrived late for my Saturday home group because...well just because and I was the last to arrive while all we sitting in their places and no one even had issue with it (darn) and I'm no big deal. Our car didn't get stolen and its okay even though I can't remember ever being later before. Sorry about the stolen car Dave...I didn't have that justification.
Today, I went back to the car rental place and traded in the big four-door sedan they gave me on Monday for a much smaller compact. Much better! It fits easily into my parking space and it's going to be easy to drive around in the city. And I didn't have to be a drunken complaining ass hat while I was at the car rental place and ruin everybody else's day. Everybody wins!
A follow up: I found a decent used car at a good price at a local dealer and bought it, and managed to act friendly and civilized throughout the entire process and not ruin anyone's day even though I REALLY don't like car dealerships and all of the sleazy salesmanship BS that happens there. And my insurance company made me a settlement offer for the stolen car that was initially way too low, and I politely replied with evidence of other comparable cars that are selling for a lot more, and viola! They came back with a fair offer and the whole thing is now done and settled. I didn't drink over it, and didn't even consider the possibility, although I did occasionally consider indulging in some less-than-spiritually fit reactions at various points along the way. But no harm done, and I don't even need to make any amends to anybody about anything - and for THIS alcoholic, in THIS situation, that's pretty miraculous.
