Dear friends, with children, it is impossible to plan anything. This seems to apply not only to the little ones, but also to the grown-ups, as we discovered once again last weekend. Then, out of the blue, a call comes in and it’s 110, the police.
As our eldest has exams at the end of the semester this week and had to study hard, we had considered visiting her in her university town in the evening and taking her out for dinner. At first, the twins wanted to come along, but then they had other plans, and our guest child was staying with a friend.
Visit to our eldest daughter’s university town
So the three of us had a great evening, first at an Indian restaurant and then wandering through the city, along the riverbank, through the party zone, where even in January there were so many people outside, as if it were summer again. It was a bit like a mini holiday.
On the way home, our eldest daughter wrote to us saying how happy she was about the good luck postcard we sent her for next week. We were somehow inspired. What a strange feeling it is to suddenly visit your own child in another city, where she shows us everything as guests.
We then picked up our guest child, briefly told her about our day and then fell into bed quite tired at around eleven. I wrote to the boys that we were now home and going to bed and „I’ll leave my mobile on in case anything happens“. Shortly afterwards, I felt the need to send them a „love you“ message. Which I did. As if I already had a strange feeling.
Night-time call from the boys
I was fast asleep when I heard my mobile phone vibrating in the bedside table drawer. I woke up, fumbled for it in the dark and saw our youngest son’s name on the display. At that moment, my heart really sank into my pyjama bottoms. How often had I written that I would leave my mobile phone on in case anything happened, but none of them had ever taken advantage of it. So I swiped the mobile phone screen to answer it. „Mum…“ In a rather dejected tone, and I was wide awake at that moment and just thought: Please, please no accident, please please let everything be okay with your brother, „Mum, they wrecked our little car, I’m so incredibly angry.“
At that moment, such a huge weight was lifted from my heart that it must have been heard in the next town. Property damage. No one hurt. Everything will be fine. The music box had been stolen, the entire interior of the microcar had been sprayed with de-icer, every window, the seats, the steering wheel, and a college notebook had been torn up and scattered around, along with moss and branches. 110, police! Report filed.
They had parked the car near the train station to take the train to the next town. When they returned, they found their car like this. „I’m so tired, who would do something like this?“ my son asked, and I said, „Call the police first.“ He showed me the 110 in his call history the next morning at breakfast. The officers arrived very quickly and were incredibly nice. I quickly found a photo of the vehicle registration document and sent it via WhatsApp, and while one of our boys sorted everything out on site and filed a report via report, the other kept us up to date via Messenger (in a way that was quite humorous at times, which took the weight off the whole situation). My pulse. My adrenaline level.
Of course, I couldn’t get back to sleep. I waited until I heard the door lock and they were back. The little car has now been repaired and cleaned, and the boys – and we as parents – have gained another experience.
Fortunately, nothing was damaged. Fortunately, no one was injured. Cars can be cleaned.
Annoying: yes. But not life-threatening.
Still, next weekend can be a bit quieter…
