From Captain's Daughter to Army Mom: The last time I saw it...

The last time I saw my Beautiful 1980, black, Limited Edition MGB it

was parked in this Very parking space you see below, next to my Truck

Located in the ShadowWood Condominium complex at

2220 CastleRock Square in Reston, Virginia

This is the View of my parking Spot from the direction of our 3rd floor Condo. I remember the day like it happened just This morning. It was beginning to Storm around 5AM so I climbed out of bed to close the window and as I looked down I noticed my parking Spot was empty. I screamed at him, the MG is Gone!! and then I flew down three flights of stairs wearing only a T-shirt and panties to get outside to the Space to see if I had somehow overlooked it in the Parking lot. But I didn't overlook it; my sweet MGB had in fact been stolen. A police officer would Later tell me that there was a known drug and Stolen car ring that ran between where we lived and New York City. Funny how our new Landlord never mentioned it!

For three days afterward I cried, threw up, prayed and Begged God to let her come back to me. Finally, I had to call my Dad to tell him that not only had the MG been stolen, but we had no Insurance on it at the time... Oh yeah! The Insurance company we insured it with after my parents went to the effort to Ship my MGB to us all the way from California cancelled our new Policy after they ran a DMV check and the Three speeding tickets someone got (not me!) in Kansas popped up. There I was... I was nineteen, just married a few Months to a man I only knew two days before accepting his Proposal, living 3,318 miles from my parents in a Big city I didn't understand. That was some phone call to my Dad, let me tell you!

Upon hearing my news, Dad immediately demanded that I get my butt on the next Flight to CA, and that I bring my New husband with me. Dad said we all needed to Have a little Face-to-Face chat about how irresponsible he thought we were and about just where I thought my Life was headed. Hearing me sob, Dad said I could call it a Honeymoon if it made me feel any better but no matter what, I better be on a flight and Fast... It was a rough home-coming but the Week we spent with my Mom and dad turned out better than I think either of us Feared it would. By the time we Flew back to Virginia, I had my dad's full support and Sympathy for having Lost the MGB he knew meant so much to me.

When we got back home I found a message on our answering machine from Dick Vaughn of the Horace Mann Insurance company asking me to ring him ASAP. The next day when I phoned him from my office in Herndon, Mr. Vaughn very kindly apologized for what he said was a Mistake made by his office. He explained that according to a recent audit there, it was Revealed that we had been given Only 30-days notice of policy cancellation when in fact, Virginia state Law required them to provide us with Notice of at least 45-days.

What this meant, Mr. Vaughn said, is that his GTI and my MGB could either be Insured for an additional 45 days or we were entitled to a refund of our last Premium we paid, which was about $80.00.

Without missing a beat I said, "That's great, Dick..., because the MG was stolen more than a week ago." I believe I heard Mr. Vaughn's heart beating during the long Pause before he finally said, "What did you just say, Mrs. Bridge?" After I repeated myself Mr. Vaughn settled down, took a long, Deep breath and then began to Explain exactly how to go about filing my Claim. In total, I was paid more than $3,000 above what I originally paid for the MGB in Kansas because I hired a Classic car dealer in Arlington to document my MGB's condition based on photographs I had and to provide a Rather detailed account of its total value since it was Indeed a registered Limited Edition.

Horace Mann not only paid me Top dollar for my MGB, they also compensated me for the AC unit my dad had installed, my Stan Smith Adidas and the Tennis racket I had in the Trunk when it was stolen. When he called me a few weeks Later to say my check was ready, I told Mr. Vaughn not to mail it because I wanted to come Pick it up. I remember Mr. Vaughn telling me that his office was not at all close to Arlington (his office was in Maryland) but I told him, "I'll find you!" The next day I picked up my check and Cashed it. Then I took the money home and announced that he could have Half and stay in Virginia or move (Run) away with me to Monterey... Either way, I told him I was going home. With or without him.

I adored him, but I'd had enough of Northern Virginia! I missed my parents and couldn't Stand his crappy (and very creepy) Foster family who all seemed to delight in running me Down, and who couldn't even say hello when they Saw me at the Market. And, add to that Fun family Drama the DC traffic, mosquitos, Humidity, and the fact that Some dickless-mother-so-and-so just stole my Car, and Monterey and my Family was looking pretty darn Good! Fortunately for me, he trusted me enough to leave what he Knew behind and took me back to Monterey where we lived near my parents and Raised two sons for seventeen very Happy years. So you could say we Loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly because we traded his GTI off for a brand new Truck, had almost $9,000 cash in the glove box and took a week to See the country before landing in Pacific Grove. Along the way We stopped at every little Gift shop and tourist Trap between Virginia and California and aside from a Nasty little argument that included throwing chicken McNuggets at each other somewhere in Oklahoma, it was a Fantastic journey!

So yesterday on our Way out of DC, we stopped by CastleRock Square and I've been thinking a lot today about my MGB and our Beginning there. Looking back on all of it today, I wouldn't Change one darn thing. After all, I can afford to buy ten MGB's today... But as that Nineteen year-old who woke up one Morning to find her car missing, I can tell you it was a Painful experience!