Backup files?

Yesterday, I had a very scary experience.

I stopped at Panara Bread on the way home to pick up some bagels. When I arrived home, I couldn't carry the bagels and all my other "stuff" inside all at once. I chose to take the bagels and my purse inside and left my laptop bag and school books in the car. Even though we live in a safe neighborhood, I lock my car out of habit (not to mention that the few crimes that do happen around here are theft of personal property).

I came inside, said my hellos to everyone and then sat down to eat dinner. I had prepared dinner ahead of time and my wonderful husband had been so kind as to heat everything up. The table was even set...what's better than that? I am getting to the scary part...stay with me!

After dinner, Brian took my car to go pick up something at the drug store. Here comes the scary part...When he got back, I went out to get my laptop and books out of my car and my laptop bag was EMPTY.... Not gone, just EMPTY. No laptop in the laptop bag. I ran inside to ask Brian if he locked the doors when he went into the drug store. "I think so" he said. "I think so?" How can you "think so"? Either it is your fault that my laptop is gone or it's not. It's a simple question. "Are you sure that you brought it home?" he asked. Now tell me, why would I bring home an empty laptop bag? Obviously, I would have noticed that the bag was lighter than usual. "Go to your office and see if it's there" he suggests. At this point, I am already trying to figure out how I will tell my boss that my laptop has been STOLEN and that it happened because my husband left the car unlocked (NOT because I left it in my car).

It is a short drive to my office. It is only 2 1/2 miles. It was a VERY long drive last night. It was during that two miles that I saw my future flash before me. My identity would be stolen for sure. My credit would be ruined. There would have to be zillions of letters sent out to zillions of people to explain it all. All of my confidential information from work would end up on a blog somewhere. Who had I written up lately? I would have to spend countless hours reconstructing the reorganization plan that I have been working on for months. What about my pictures? Oh wait ...I put everything on CD's a few weeks ago (ALREADY LEARNED THAT LESSON). Oh, but a lot has happened since then...the third grade picnic, pre-k graduation...those could not be replaced. Oh God...maybe Nicole's mom can send me her pictures. Oh no...my contact list. How would I ever remember all those email addresses? My friends could be lost forever. What about my "favorites list"? How will I find Heather's blog or the Oprah reservations page? Oh this is bad...very bad.

I finally arrived at my office. I took the long elevator ride up to the 11th floor. I opened my office door and there she was....sigh.....I sat down for a minute to pull myself together. Then I took her off the docking station and placed her safely in her bag. "Don't ever do that to me again" I said. Then I picked up the phone and called Brian and let him know that he had been wrongfully accused. "apology accepted" he said. I could hear the relief in his voice.