2019 Year In Review (Nope don’t need to wait a month)

By Joy Lynn Clark

11/18/2018

The end of 2018 was so crappy that I didn’t even bother doing a year in review.  It is one solid year later and I am still feeling the repercussions.  I probably failed to mention this all year but, my studio in Louisville was robbed in fall of 2018.  At the time, I was mad that I lost some things but, it did not seem as if the damage was too extensive.

Boy was I wrong about that.  To make things worse, I kept discovering things that were missing the entire year through.  Random things, things that have no value other than to verify identity.  I have spent all of my money in 2019 playing catch-up.

The home electronics and digital media that were stolen was easy enough to replace.  OK, this is where we pause for the grain of salt.  Getting robbed for home electronics and digital media is a straightforward notion.  However, having the money to replace them may not be so easy.  I had insurance so I made a theft claim, and was able to get something back. 

Documents.  I noticed that a document was stolen within the first couple of months of the robbery.  Another straightforward notion, I guess.  The price to replace it was about 25 bucks.  However, the identity theft value is priceless.  I wasn’t too sure what folks might want with some of this stuff but, I am gonna have to stay alert.  I suppose I will find out eventually.

One major thing that may or may not hold much value is my pet’s file.  That’s right, I am missing the file that I kept on my pet.  It had adoption info, chip locator stuff, immunization records ect . . .  I did not even notice this one right away.  However, I moved to a new building that requires proof of rabies shots.  I was so scared that we couldn’t move in but, I happened to have the rabies tags for her collar.

Imagine if I hadn’t,  I would have had to get my pet another rabies shot.  That is the kind of damage that stealing documents can do.  Also, I am very worried about the chip.  Is the thief going to stalk my pet?  I can’t imagine going to the vet and asking him to poke around and slice her up to get the chip out.  On the other hand, what if I have to?  Claim value – yet to be determined.

I would love to give you some tips on fighting identity theft but, I am still finding out the extent of the damage one year later and to this day.