Jessamine I am so very sorry that you have experienced this dreadful betrayal of your hospitality ,generosity and friendship. It is understandable that your heart hurts and you are upset.

Owing your feelings, as you have , sharing with others as you are doing, does help to lift the initial shock of this discovery.

You have answered your own question as to WHY-- He is sick-- It was not personal, Be gentle with yourself. and know that life must be lived going forward and understood in retrospect.

Trust HP and know the answers and the wisdom to be gained from this situation will be revealed

You did right by you and your HP. Somebody else did wrong by them and their own higher power. As you say, that person is sick. I'm so sorry that you are feeling the loss, it is completely understandable to grieve for those special pieces that have precious memories for you. I like Debilyn's suggestion of checking the pawn shops for the things that are most valuable to you.

I've had the same thing happen but to a different degree. I learned that my home needed to be my refuge and not a boarding house for sick people or even a resting station. A gal I had known for years stayed with me one weekend and I think but can't prove that she stole a lot of change and money from my grandson's "Save to save bank" that we both hid in the closet in my guestroom. At first I thought he took it - rationalizing that it was his money and taking some to use at school for some reason. After a long discussion and definite sincerity on his part, I realized that she had been sleeping in that room at different times, was struggling financially and had had a drug problem that she tried to hide in another state for awhile. She'd had surgery to amputate a leg due to bone cancer and was given multiple drugs while in the hospital and following release. She also had developed an attitude that seemed so out of character for her but I chalked it up to grief and the challenge that being an amputee for only a year presented to her. After the money came up missing, I also learned that while she was talking to me as if I were her best and closest friend, she had been bad-mouthing me to another person in our group of women writers, which simply floored me. I had known this gal for close to 30 years and never would have considered her capable of stealing either money or backbiting while at the same time pretending to care about me and my family. It hurt for awhile and I moved through it with the knowledge that although she wasn't a friend to me, I had been a good friend to her but had to separate myself from her to protect myself and my family from her return to addictive behaviors and the resulting isms that developed in her. Her behaviors didn't negate my care for her or my desire to help her enjoy being in the comfort of my home where she could walk with less effort and relax with no threats to her wellbeing while she continued to get used to having only one leg to stand on. She is still bad-mouthing me to others and her behaviors are none of my business. I know she is sick and I know that if I used drugs or alcohol or got hooked on them following surgery and the aftermath of an amputation, I might behave the same. I can be grateful I'm not that sick and I can continue Al-Anon so that I keep growing in doing what is good for me according to my HP and less of what isn't good for me and in this case, it is holding a grudge against her for being sick. Would I call the police and report the theft if I knew for certain it was her? Yes. Because I don't, I'll let her HP handle the justice part of loving His/Her/Its child.