*Memories* *Funny Memories*

So I had a little extra time on my hands today between work and getting things ready for VBS when something came across the Fox News Channel that made me think of a "memory" that happened to My sister NooNoo and I probably about 10 years ago. Bare with me as I tell this story.

If I could go back in time and change my profession, I would probably be a police officer. Other than carrying a gun (which we do keep in our house, because we have our share of nut cases that live around our home) which would be cool, I know for a fact that I could catch any criminal that tried to mess with my Daddy's tool box. I'll get back to the tool box in a moment.

You see, when I still lived at home with my parents, all kinds of things happened at our home that in our little town should never never happen!! On occasion the average escape convict would get loose and end up behind our home, I guess because of all the woods there were to hide in. Also, one day when my sister was a senior in high school, she had come home sick from school and got out of her car leaving her purse, the keys to the car,(stupid) and all her cheerleading uniforms and school books in it and forgot to go back and get it all out before going to bed that night. During the night sometime, 2 men stole her car, after slashing the tires on my other sister Vickie's car and on my Moms car. Talk about scary!

Anyways, back to my Dad's tool box. Going back approximately 10 years or so, my sister NooNoo and I were left at home one Sunday morning to get ready to go to a family reunion while my Mother went to Sunday School to teach her class. I had just gotten through washing my hair and NooNoo was still in the bed. I was in the living room watching T.V. when I heard a van pull in the driveway. I looked out the window and saw a man get out of the van and walk towards our garage. At this time we did not have an electric garage door opener and so the door never got pulled down if someone was at home. I guess we were to lazy. So I went to the door that leads into the garage from the living room and heard the man knock on the door that went into the utility room, which by the way, no one ever uses. I looked out the window of that door just in time to see the man pick up my Dad's tool box that probably weighed 100 pounds or so and walk off with it, load it into the van, and take off.

Just then the cop in me (hehe) ran to my sisters room and got her up. Told her what had just happened and what happened next should never never happen. Call the cops if this ever happens to you!! She said, "What should we do?" I said, "Let's go get it back! If we just call the cops we will never see Dad's tools again!" To my surprise, we got in the car and the next thing I know we are chasing this van up the road. Our plan was to just get their tag number and take it to the police station and let them handle it. But the burglar had other plans.

I guess he noticed we were following him because we no more than got a couple of miles up the road when he pulled over. Yikes!!!! My sister pulled up next to the van in the middle of the road and in a not so nice manner asked the man to bring back my Dad's tool box. I was in the passenger seat closest to the van and all I could think about was, he is gonna pull a gun and I'll be the first to die! Well I guess the good Lord was watching over us, even though we had skipped church that Sunday, because that man turned his van around and followed us back to our house. Still, I guess we thought this to be a good idea. When we returned home I went in the house to get the phone ready to dial our neighbors number just in case something happened(once again-this is stupid). He gave a story about how some man told him to stop by our house and pick up these tools, it was his payment for some work he had done on a tractor. Lie, Lie, Lie. I believe because there was a woman in the van with him that he did not try to hurt us. He even helped put the tool box back on the shelf. After he left, my sister and I got ready to go and waited on our Mother to get home so we could go to the reunion.

Gosh, when she found out what had happened, she was in hysterics. She could not believe that we did such a thing. We got our things together and headed to the reunion which was at the park in our little town, which is also next to the police department. My Mom decided to stop by and tell them what had happened and they seemed to not want to do anything about it. So we went to the park to be with our family when low and behold the cops showed up to take our statement. What a spectacle we were. All for a tool box. But it was my Dad's tool box is what we kept telling everybody. He took all of our information, which the description of the guy I gave was that he looked like my, then, brother-in-law. My sister said that it was probably not a good idea to tell them that. It's pretty funny now that I think about it. About a month later they caught those people and they went to jail! Wahoo!! Told you it was quite a story. So never and I mean never chase the bad guys for yourself. We just were lucky and got a nice burglar. If there is such a thing. My Dad was very appreciative but still a little mad because of how we got it back! HeHe!

FYI....this certain tool box of my Dad's is bolted to his work bench. If someone wants to steal it now they will have to work a whole lot harder to get.