Quickly - take a moment and name five items that are priceless in your life, besides people of course. I'm guessing when it comes down to it, most of the items you thought about had sentimental value. But it's just stuff. And stuff can be replaced.

I came home last Thursday afternoon on my break with a smile on my face. I was thinking of the chocolate milkshake I was planning to make before taking a quick power nap. But that smile quickly faded when I pulled the key from my pocket to open my door. I didn't need a key. The door was already open.

For a moment, I wondered just how stupid I could have been to leave my door open that morning. As I pushed open the door a few inches, I sucked in my breath. Like lightening flashing through my head, I had one single thought: I wanted to freeze time. I wanted to stop the moment from moving forward so I didn't have to deal with the reality that I had been robbed.

As I pushed the door open wider, I felt like I was on the scene for a movie. All my things were flung across the room in hasty piles. For what seemed like an eternity, I just stood and stared, unable to think clearly. As soon as my thoughts regained some sort of normality, the first thing I though of was work. Oh no, it wasn't, "Oh no, I've just been robbed!" it was more, "I wonder if I'm going to be late for work." In the moment, I was more worried about missing work than what had been stolen.

My thoughts finally resumed, and instantly assumed panic mode. I knew I had to call the police, but I'm in Paris. I can't just pick up the phone and call 911. How do I tell them someone has broken in? How do I understand them when they ask all the appropriate questions? That's a French that I don't speak, let alone fluently.

With my cell phone clutched in one hand and my home phone in the other, I raced downstairs to the courtyard. Thankfully there's a small wedding dress store just underneath me, so I burst through the door. Let me first say that crying and speaking French don't go well together. It's like drinking and driving - you just don't do it. But the woman behind the desk was very sympathetic, and she called the police to file a report. She gave them all the appropriate information while I stood there with silent tears running down my cheeks.

A quick 15 minutes later, an officer arrived to survey the scene. He took down all my information and told me not to touch anything. He called a forensics team to dust for fingerprints. A long four hours later, they arrived with big, bulky black suitcases filled with secret vials of this and that. For the second time that day, I felt like I was on a movie set as they dusted for fingerprints and surveyed the damage. They uncovered a huge handprint on the front door, but confirmed that the intruder was wearing gloves and left not a trace. But as good as he was at breaking in, I have to say that he was pretty stupid about what he stole.

The first to go was my computer - no brainer there. I saw empty jewelry cases throughout the mess, so I knew that was gone too. After picking through the mess, I soon realized that he missed the best stuff. He left behind the blue and orange glass bead necklace that my neighbor made for me before I left. He passed over the bottle of Oregon Pinot I had my mom bring from my wine cellar so a friend here could sample a glass. He tossed aside the white T-shirt with the letters DA written on the front in food so all of us in Group A could spell out Happy Birthday to Lani on her special day. He even missed the collection of handmade cards my mom has sent me in the year that I've been here. Yeah, he really missed the good stuff. I'm glad he wasn't more intelligent.

Yes, I'm sorry to have lost my computer which is so central to staying in touch. And the jewelry had sentimental value. But I am lucky in that he didn't take the things that were really valuable. To him, they were just ordinary things - totally worthless in his eyes. But to me, they are priceless;

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