I can’t say I was looking forward to the day in front of me Wednesday morning. The day before had been pretty frustrating and I knew that I had a couple more days of that in front of me. My lady and I had unwound with a bottle of wine the night before, so I was relaxed and sleepy when I walked out to my car. Or should I say to the place my car had been the night before. My neighbor’s dog was out walking her owner. “Did you forget where you left your car?” I must have had that look on my face. There is a series of years where this question would have been in place, but I had just come off of a six month hiatus from alcohol and had only recently begun to have drinks in moderation. “No. I don’t think I did.” I was pretty sure I had parked it right in front of our building and at the very least was without question positive that I had parked in the first half of the block. My neighbor starts looking around as well and after walking around the corner and back I am sure it’s been taken. Rock star parking. They stole the fucking car. I had been telling her the night before that I could feel that something was stirring in the force and that major things were going take place. I walk out the next morning to grand theft auto. I call her from the street, but she doesn’t pick up. I walk back to the apartment and tell her my car is gone. My father had driven it across the country for me just a few months before. A peach. 1996. Less than 65,000 miles on it. I owe less than a grand on it and it’s gone. I find irony in the fact that I have to go down to the police station to file the report… wondering how people that don’t have access to another car get down to the station to report their car stolen. As I’m driving over in her car, I zip around the neighborhood to see if I see the car anywhere. I come across one that looks very similar a block over and get the delusion that perhaps someone had just repossessed the wrong car… mistaken mine for this one… and that they’d bring it back in one piece. Is there a part of me that still holds on to this delusion? I drive back to the store that I had stopped by on the way home last night… just in case… I had left it there and walked 2 and a half blocks home without remembering to bring the car home. No dice. I get to City Hall and there is no parking. It’s not even 9 a.m. and I can’t find a space. After driving around and doing illegal U-turns in front of the Court House, I start to feel a flip-out coming on. The universe is trying my patience and I am about to exercise some of my power. I turn left again and there’s an opening and in I go. It’s my first visit to the police station. I had never really planned on stopping by. The desk officer took my information and checked the records to see if anyone had reported towing the car. None had so he sent me to the other window. I had been talking to a guy who was coming in to report his window being smashed in. The officer had told him there had been a few of those up on Washington. We wished one another well. The lady had to go find a pen, so I phoned into work again. It really is an inopportune time for unforeseen circumstances. 3rd quarter starts this coming Monday. I had been off on Monday when they had entered and approved all the buys for the new-to-me account that I’ve taken over for the next few months and everything needs to go out yesterday… and I was there a couple hours extra yesterday trying to get things to go out tomorrow. When it rains, it pours, even in Santa Monica when the sun is out. She has her pen and is filling out my form. I play back the events of parking the car the night before, coming out this morning to it not being there. She asks if I have all my keys, which I do. Was there any broken glass? No. I had put my club on the steering wheel, taken my stereo face off and set the locks and alarm with the remote. Hell, I was tired, but I probably checked the doors… but I don’t remember. She asks if there’s anything else I want to add. “Find my car.” It was the first moment that I felt choked up. My car hasn’t been found… or at least not that I have heard about. I’ve played a series of scenarios in my head… but I am ultimately dancing with the unknown. I don’t know if there are lessons to be learned in every experience, but I always search to find them. Impermanence has been on my mind for the last few days.