Imagine someone close to you who has passed away. Now, imagine the only item that made you feel like they were still next to you was stripped away. You can only think of the pain that would come from that loss.

When something is stolen, no one on the outside really thinks of what really is being stolen. Math coach Roxanne Mitchell stepped out of her room for a moment, leaving her possessions unattended; little did she know her phone would be stolen in those few minutes. What the culprit didn’t know was that on the phone were voice mails from her grandson and also from her mother, who passed away in 2005. In the voice mails, her grandson was 3, 4, and 5 years old. He is now 6 and his voice sounds much different . His young voice is something she cannot get back.  In an act to retrieve the data on her phone, Mitchell went to some nearby classrooms offering a reward for whoever returned the phone, a reward ironically for the person who actually stole the phone.

“That phone wasn’t valuable to anyone but me,” Mitchell said.

I cannot imagine having the sound of my grandpa’s laugh being erased from my mind. He passed away a few years ago, and that laugh is the only thing that stays in my mind on a daily basis. Sure, I have photos and some videos, but nothing is more special than having that person speaking directly to you. Every time I laugh I can hear him laughing with me.

I could feel the pain Mitchell feels now that she no longer has those voice mails to listen to when she begins to feel sad. Holding onto a voice is the closest thing to having the person right beside you.

When someone steals something, they don’t know what they are stealing. They are stealing a part of someone’s history, a part of their memory, a part of their life. These can never be replaced. Of course, memories are still locked away in our heads, but sometimes that is not enough.

“I lost her voice but I didn’t lose the years of happy memories,” Mitchell said. “They can’t take that away from me.”