I stole a lot of money as a kid from a elderly man that I used to mow the lawn for.

When I was maybe 16 my dad arranged for me to mow my uncles neighbors lawn (this was in the 90s). I mowed his lawn every week for a few years and he would come outside and chat with me and give me $20. He didn't want me to take it, but he would insist I take it. <br><br>One day I mowed his lawn and he wasn't home. His wife came out and looked really stressed and said that she needed to go pay the contractors that were rebuilding their house. She asked me if she could give me my $20 in the morning. I said of course. She said "Thank you, you just saved me from driving to the Walmart to get money out of the ATM. My money is in my room up there... " and then pointed to a window on the second floor on the right side of the house. <br><br>That night I thought it would be a good idea to break in and steal some money. The house was all boarded up because of the contractors. I saw that the window she pointed out at was one of the few windows that wasn't boarded up. It was locked, but I was able to get a screwdriver in the crack and pry the window open. I then crawled in.<br><br>I found her closet and all I saw was clothes and a shoebox looking thing in the corner buried in the clothes. I grabbed it and opened it and all I saw was stacks of $100s. I had never seen that much money in my life. I filled up my jeans and shirt pockets with the stacks of $100s and got out of there. I lived across the street but I took a detour on my way home and walked through a lot of streets to make sure I wasn't followed. When I got home I counted my take and it was $6,900. <br><br>I felt guilty the next day and I just wanted to tell someone that I didn't earn the money. When my uncle came to my house I told him "I stole a bunch of money from your neighbors house last night". He looked at me weird and said "Oh, how much did she pay you this time?". I told him it was $6900. He laughed and said "she must have liked that lawn job you did". He was taking the money as income. <br><br>I continued to mow the lawn through the rest of the summer, but the following summer I didn't mow it. The next summer I moved out of my parents house. A year later I went to my uncles house and there she was in the backyard. I wanted to just give her the money back but it had been 2 years and I still never had told anyone (not even my girlfriend). I was so ashamed that I just wanted to keep it a secret and never tell anyone. I saw her again a few more times over the next few years to visit my uncle. I wanted to tell her so many times but didn't have the guts to do it. <br><br>Now it's 30 years later and I haven't told anyone but my uncle about this (I just broke that streak now on this message). I haven't seen her in 20 years but every time I think about what I did I feel terrible. I wonder if she ever thought that her husband took the money. She fired the contractors because she didn't have enough money to pay them. I feel like I did that to her and I'm a piece of shit.