A Wedding Budget Bump in the Road

It's been no secret that Mr. BB and I are on an incredibly strict budget for this little shin-dig of ours. Like, a spaghetti-and-meatball dinner every night budget. So what happened to us yesterday was incredibly traumatic in a variety of ways.

I'll warn you right now, this isn't a bubble gum, typical, happy-go-lucky wedding post. This is about some serious shiz-nat that went down yesterday.

Mr. BB left for work like any other day and arrived per usual. One of his coworkers arrived in the office and asked him if he knew his car had been keyed. He didn't. As if that wasn't bad enough, she proceeded to tell him that the images of the inscriptions were that of a Swastika, and the words "F**k You."

Personal Photo

Personal Photo

Shock and dismay doesn't begin to cover it.

It's worth noting that we live in a very diverse community filled with young professionals and college students alike. We live within one block of a Buddhist temple, Mosque, and Synagogue as well as a Jewish school. You have to totally embrace the surrounding diversity to fit in and thrive here, and obviously, this person hasn't done that. The surrounding neighborhoods are also very, very conservatively Jewish, and, this unfortunate example of Antisemitism occurred on the first day of Passover. Coincidence? I think not.

In addition to this ignorant, disrespectful act of hate, we were also the victims of vandalism. Vandalism costs money, so for us, we were out a $500 car insurance deductible. This is totally not the thing you want to happen to you when you are on a strict, time-sensitive budget. Especially when you've been working your little butts off to save money.

So, what were we to do?

Get angry. I immediately decided that the person who did this would not get away unscathed and promptly notified a local news station via e-mail. They called me back within seconds and before I knew it, we had an interview scheduled for later that afternoon. We became a news story as quickly as that. Turns out, when you notify one news station, the others follow, so for the entire duration of the afternoon, our doorbell was buzzing with the sounds of reporters looking for the scoop.

At the least, I was hoping to put the word out that his horrible act had occurred in our community in hopes of spreading awareness. I even hoped that the person who did this would realize how seriously it was being taken - we've been contacted by several police detectives after filing a police report, and it was elevated from an act of vandalism to a hate crime. Lastly, I thought that if the person were caught, we could hold them responsible for paying for the repairs.

Well, wouldn't you know - along with a small amount of 5-minute, local celebrity status, we discovered another Swastika had been carved into a truck and that several acts of vandalism had occurred at the synagogue around the corner. Our neighbors are shocked and disgusted, but we successfully got the word out and people are on high alert.

This morning we were informed by local media outlet that an incredibly generous auto body shop has offered to repair our car for free. What a way to give a giant middle finger to a horrible crime driven by hate, than to show a tremendous act of kindness. Awareness raised. Budget intact.

Have you ever witnessed an act of hatred and bigotry like this? How did it affect you?