Today has not been a good day.

This morning as I left for work I was greeted with a smashed window on my car. Some unsavoury person had broken into my car to steal my handbag. My handbag that contained everything I need on a daily basis. My purse, my diary, my blog planner, my glasses, kids toys, notes from school, my favourite mascara, plus things I haven’t even remembered were in there… all gone.

This led to a day of ringing the police, ringing our insurers, cancelling credit cards, sweeping up glass and trying to get our window replaced.

It’s hard not to let something like this get to you. The shock turned to misery which then turned to anger. How dare they? How dare they smash my window and help themselves to MY belongings. How dare they shatter glass all over my children’s carseats and toys. How dare they be so inconsiderate, selfish and cruel?

My immediate reaction was to blame myself. How stupid I was to leave my handbag in the car. I got home late last night after taking the boys to karate and picking up some shopping. I chased all three kids into the house, grabbed the shopping, locked the car and forgot all about my handbag sitting on display on the passenger seat. How could I have been so careless?

It took my husband one look at my wobbling bottom lip to give me a hug and tell me it wasn’t my fault. I wasn’t too blame. THEY were to blame. The ones who smashed my window and stole from me. They are at fault.

My husband was right and it was another thing to feel angry about. How dare they make me blame myself?

I have spent most of the day fizzing with anger and it isn’t a nice feeling. I am feisty and I’m happy to speak my mind, but I also prefer to see the lighter side of a situation. I’d rather find the funnier side of a scenario and I hate wasting my time worrying. However, this was a feeling I couldn’t shake. I swung from being tearful to being fuelled by fury.

It is only now that I sit back that I can finally seem to lift myself out of that darkness. It’s been a long day but now I can realise that there ARE good people in the world.

There’s a quote by Fred Rogers which is a favourite of mine for helping the children in times of awful news.

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

The terror attacks in Manchester, so close to us, hit my eldest son hard. He couldn’t comprehend how there could be such evil in the world. Could any of us? I used Rogers’ quote as a way to help him find the positive even in the bleakest of times.

This evening I’m chosing to focus on the helpers:

The complete stranger who rang me to say she had found my diary dumped in a nearby field and found my mobile number inside. She rang to ask whether I would like to collect it. When I did pop round she told me she assumed it had been thrown by someone and so continued to look for other belongings as she walked her dog. She didn’t need to do any of this, but she did, and I was so grateful to just get something back.

Our neighbour who after seeing the mess our car was in, came out to see if we were OK.

My parents who offered to have all three kids for the day tomorrow, so I can go to work to replace the time I lost not being able to go in today.

Our kids, who despite their young age, knew there was something wrong and have behaved so well today while we got everything sorted.

My husband, who rather than lecture me about my own stupidity, gave me that much needed hug and support.

Yes, people suck. There are some terrible, evil, selfish cretins breathing the same oxygen as us and it’s so easy to let that anger take over.

I’m choosing to remember the kindness and goodness in people. For every mean spirited person, there are a million kind hearted people to eclipse them.