I Never Would Have Thought.....

One day a week in the morning I stop for Ryan to get a donut as a reward for his diligent scholastic efforts (I have to admit that I haven't given in to the urge even though they are screaming my name. We typically stop at the same donut shop but yesterday I thought I would mix things up and stop at Ralphs. Little did I know at the time that making this slight change in our routine would make for such an eventful day.

So, I parked my car by the side of Ralphs (there was not a soul or car in sight). We then proceeded into Ralphs where Ry picked out his donuts. I paid and we meandered out the door. As we turned the corner, I noticed a gray beat up older model Honda Civic parked very close to my car. In the driver's side was a woman and in the passenger's side was a male. As we continued to walk to our car, a female Hispanic and a male Hispanic got out of the Honda Civic car and were standing at the trunk of their car when I overheard the female say to the male "Get ready". The male then proceeded to get in the passenger's side of their car while the female made her way around the corner and into Ralphs. We got into our car and I immediately noticed several blankets in the back seat of their car. I took a casual glance at the male as he was sitting in the driver's seat and appeared to be very calm to me. All the while, Ry was happy as a clam as he had two donuts to enjoy. There was no way I was leaving at this point as this whole situation seemed very odd to me. I knew I had over 30 minutes to get Ryan to school so I thought it best for me to stay put and see what transpired. About two minutes later, I looked out my side mirror and I saw the Hispanic female walking towards our cars pushing a cart that was filled to the rim. All I could see was an orange color. The female pushed the cart to the passenger's side of her car and opened up the back door and quickly threw in 8 to 12 of the large Tide liquid detergent bottles and then put the blankets that had been in the back of the car over them. They were completely covered over. She then got into the passenger's side and put the seat completely back and proceeded to put a blanket over her. All of this occurred without her ever even taking one glance of me while I was watching the whole thing from my car. Ryan all the while was continuing to enjoy his donuts. By the way, he says the Ralphs chocolate bars are pretty good. The male driver then started up the car and drove parallel to the Denny's Restaurant and made a right onto Beach. As they were driving, I was able to memorize the license plate number. My mission then began. I had to remember this license plate number. I ran out of my car like a bat out of hell (that is how Ryan described it to me later) and into Ralphs for a pen to write the license plate number down. I know, I should have just typed it into my IPhone but my first instinct was to write it down so that is what I did. I then calmly asked the one and only cashier that was working if she had just sold 8-12 bottles of the large Tide detergent to a Hispanic female age 20-25. She said "Huh" like I was a crazy woman. The Merchandising Manager then came up to the front of the store to talk to me and as soon as I said "Tide" he said "Oh crap". Apparently he had seen the female in the detergent aisle where she informed him that she was buying them to donate. I bet that is the last time he falls for that line. You see, it was a completely easy exit as the detergent aisle is in direct line out of the store. From there, the Store Manager came up and I provided her some details from which she called the Police. Shortly after that, a detective called me for which I provided a statement. Today, another detective came to my office and got a few more details from me and showed me several pages of pictures. I was not able to identify the male as to be completely honest, I only looked at him twice (once when he was outside the car and once while he was sitting in their car). I do remember clearly that he was Hispanic, 20-25, approximately 5'11'', nice head of groomed black hair, mustache, no hat, no glasses, wearing jeans and a jacket, a decent looking guy that didn't scare me one bit - not the look that I would think would be part of this, didn't see any tattoos. I remembered the female very well. Very homely looking Hispanic gal, 20-25, short (5'2''), round face, no glasses, black hair was in a pony tail), no bangs wearing jeans and a jacket. I clearly recognized her as #6 on page 3 of the photos. I signed a few papers and walked the detective out of the building. As we were walking, the detective asked what I do for a living. I said "an investigator". He laughed and said, "I should have known". He then proceeded to inform me that I am the most detailed witness he has ever had and that I am not making this case any fun for him as I had given him all the details. You may be wondering what Ryan was up to after I ran into the store. Well, I didn't know at the time but he was also aware of what was going on. As soon as I ran into Ralphs, he was on my IPhone texting a friend of ours as to what was going including the license plate number and other items. I have to say, this is one adventure I will never forget. I asked Ry this morning if he was up for a donut run to Ralphs and he said "Not today Mom". My gut tells me that this is not the end of this adventure - only time will tell. I write this blog not because I am proud of it, actually I find it very sad, but because the detective suggested I do.

Love Is.......

Love is real, real is love
Love is feeling, feeling love
Love is wanting to be loved.

Love is touch, touch is love
Love is reaching, reaching love
Love is asking to be loved

Love is you
You and me
Love is knowing
You can be

Love is free, free is love
Love is living, living, living love
Love is needing to be loved.

Love is you
You and me
Love is wanting
To be free

Love is knowing
You will be.