The Case of the Missing Camp Trunk

In July of 2007 I shared the trauma of packing my first camp trunk. Four summers later, I can assure you, digging a swimming pool in your backyard is easier than packing a complete trunk.

So my heart goes out to the University Park mom who placed her child’s fully loaded trunk in the front yard yesterday afternoon for a few short minutes and returned to find it had been stolen. STOLEN. Gone. Vanished.

Seriously. How do you even make a quick getaway with a ginormous, heavy trunk?

By Merritt Patterson Aug. 9, 2010 | 5:25 pm | 11 Comments | Comments RSS

11 comments to "The Case of the Missing Camp Trunk"

Sharpay @ August 9, 2010 at 6:02 pm

Poor mom. It’s not just that she now has to rebuy clothes, toiletries, a trunk and labels, but she has to iron the labels on everything again. That totally stinks.
QM @ August 9, 2010 at 6:32 pm

I think the death penalty is absolutely reasonable in this situation. The person had to be on crystal meth or LSD to have the superhuman strength to lift one of those trunks and make off with it.
Lawyer Mom @ August 10, 2010 at 12:03 am

all that effort was STOLEN? That is the absolute worst. The lowest of low.

5 white long-sleeved shirts, 5 blue short-sleeved shirts, 6 blue shorts measuring no more than one inch above the knee, 2 pair of white shorts for Sunday vespers, one sit-upon in your chiLd’s team color, two toothbrushes, two blankets of 1/4 inch thickness … on and on and on it goes. I remember it well.

And yes @Sharpay: the LABELING! Dear God, the labeling.

So is the mom still breathing? Please post address for casserole delivery. Sympathetic army is now assembling.
SurferGirl @ August 10, 2010 at 6:13 am

I know who this happened to, and the biggest problem was that it was stolen THIRTY MINUTES BEFORE THEY WERE LEAVING FOR CAMP! No time to worry about labels, etc. I can’t even imagine how upsetting this was, especially for the little girl.
New camp mom @ August 10, 2010 at 8:54 am

That is awful, how is the child handling it? Maybe we can have a trunk packing fairy drop off necessary supplies for the repacking.
QM @ August 10, 2010 at 9:06 am

I will lead the hunt with torches and chants. As my eight year old would say, “Those jerks should get a job.”
bdawg @ August 10, 2010 at 12:43 pm

where i live, there are often people who patrol neighborhood streets during bulk trash week. if there is anything left close to the curb, it’s likely to be picked-up by scavengers. thoughts go out to the children that lost their things.
lou @ August 10, 2010 at 2:03 pm

Seriously? What a pain in the rear! Poor kid! I can’t imagine the panic 30 minutes before leaving. Whomever picked it up/stole it must have been suprised to hack into it and find nothing but kids stuff.
PurpleTrunk @ August 10, 2010 at 2:18 pm

Hi,

It was my sweet daughter’s trunk that was stolen–a large purple footlocker/trunk. Her bedding was sitting on top in a white plastic bag b/c at PineCove you do not pack that in the trunk–that was taken also. Please know I am grateful for your sympathy, but God provided. Within 30 minutes we had a borrowed trunk re-packed with 50% borrowed stuff. Nothing got labeled so we are keeping our fingers crossed at least the borrowed stuff comes back to return to my sweet friends who were amazing to me and my daughter in our time of crisis. My daughter was incredible–completely rolled with it and was so happy to get to camp. We are so blessed she handled the situation so well. We are fine, but if you see a purple trunk anywhere–let us know!!!:)
grump @ August 11, 2010 at 10:14 am

PurpleTrunk-
Great attitude from your daughter. It’s obvious where she gets it from…
Mom of Boys @ August 11, 2010 at 4:50 pm

Way to go! Raising a resilient child!! We all need a little more of that. Thanks for the sweet update. Hope she has a blast!!