"You will have a robbery," said the woman sitting across from me, holding my hand.
"Excuse me?" A robbery? What on earth?
"Do you have a dog?"
"Yes."
"Oh, that's o.k. then. Your house is protected. You don't have to worry."
Protected? That's a hoot.
Fifteen years ago now. I was living in a rented townhouse with my 3 children, all of whom were attending school. The eldest two also had part-time jobs. My youngest was still in high school. As you can imagine, there were comings and goings all day long. Our doors were never locked. One morning as I was preparing to leave the house for work, I reached out to unlock the front door, when I discovered it wasn't. Locked. Somebody had left it unlocked all night.
Being the philosophical person I am, I shrugged and went on my way. How would a potential thief know that my door, out of all the doors on the street, was not locked last night? And we did have a dog. And two cats. And do thieves walk up to the front door and turn the knob? Don't they try to sneak in the back door, or break a window?
Before my divorce, we lived in a detached house in a residential neighbourhood, not far from this townhouse. It was a nice neighbourhood, where neighbours looked out for one another. I had always felt safe. Our "open-door" policy was the same back then too.
Hubby (my first husband) would leave the house first in the mornings. Then my eldest son. Then me and lastly my younger two. They took the school bus. In those days they were bussed home for lunch. I am sure most days, our doors were left open. I was never a stickler for locking doors. We had a dog back then too. And nice neighbours. No need to worry. My mother would scold me at times, but I never listened. Nor did I have the energy to enforce "lock the door" rules.
Strange thing happened. We divorced and sold that house. A young couple moved in. Both worked. No dog. A couple of months after they'd moved in, the house was broken into. I felt bad. Our doors were always open. A thief could have walked in any time at all. But nobody did.
This nice young couple went to work every day, making sure their doors were locked. How unfortunate that somebody must have been watching. Somebody knew that house was empty all day. They must have broken in when the neighbours were away too.
Back to that woman holding my hand. I was having my palm read at a Psychic Fair. Some of what she told me back then came true. Some things did not.
I believe that you attract what you focus on.
