the update

Okay, so in the last few days I have not only found out who it was that broke into my house but I’ve also heard they have fessed up (1st to their parents, then to an officer). Well, now I have a big desision to make: to press charges or not. I know at first thought it would be, do it, do it now but two of these kids are family. Can you belive that shit??? Two of the three kids that decided they had enough balls to break into my house & tear my stuff up are my husband’s cousins. I really was hoping it wasn’t them even though deep down I knew it was. Part of what I don’t understand is WHY??? Why my house, why tear up my stuff, go through my personal belongings, take stuff that means so much to us?? Well, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I got the first phone call trying to talk me out of pressing charges. One of the parents called me last night, offering to replace anything that was damaged including my refrigeratror. And like I explained to her, I just don’t see how I can just drop the charges. I can’t trust the kids ever again, I can’t trust they won’t do this again, or that they won’t do worse next time. If I do drop the charges then what, they get a slap on the hands & sent on their way. No real punishment. These kids have gotten away with so much already, it was just a matter of time before they escalated to a felony. Also like I explained to this parent, it’s more than just what the kids tore up & destroyed. I feel so violated, unsafe in my own home. I have lived in that house for 10 years & have NEVER felt unsafe there. So many things have gone through my mind in the last few days. These kids have no idea what could have happened because of what they did that night. Candles, lighters, matches, A LOT of alcohol & very dry conditions, it’s a thousand wonders they didn’t catch something on fire. Who the hell do these kids think they are? Do they think the law doesn’t apply to them? I was/still am so pissed that they did this. I’m not sure how long it will take me to get over this. All this does is makes me want to move from there that much more, even though that probably would mean that I would have to go back to work. GD kids, I should press charges just so that it might scare the shit out of them enough they would think twice before doing something like this again. I would love to have about 5 minutes unsupervised with these thugs. I know I have to move past this but it is still too fresh, too raw.