Tuesday, May 29, 2007

A sea of gratitude for the anonymous lady at CVS

My husband and I planned all sorts of home improvements and repairs for Memorial Day weekend. We did a respectable job of getting things accomplished despite the distraction of Manther being a whiny, clingy, obstinate, two year old terror. By Monday afternoon, I was worn out. But, we still had one very important job to complete. When we moved into this house, my mother-in-law gave us her old living room furniture to replace the nasty, beat-up, sectional we had. That was three years ago and we never managed to move it to our house. The move was finally going to happen on Monday. As we struggled to squeeze the couch through the doorway of the spare bedroom it was stored in, Manther had a meltdown and gave repeated loud, piercing screams for 5 minutes. It was impossible for us to continue moving furniture with that racket so I took a few minutes to calm her down. I soon realized a pacifier was absolutely necessary for us to complete this move and I had not brought one. We drove to CVS and Manther spotted her 'noogies' as soon as we entered the baby aisle. I snatched them off the shelf and quickly paid. She was begging and insisting so I opened the package as soon as we stepped out the door. The silence that followed was heavenly.

We returned to my mother-in-law's house and I started to exit the car. I couldn't find my wallet anywhere and I felt rising panic. The neighborhoods surrounding my mother-in-law's have seen a lot of poverty and drugs in recent years and the CVS I had visited was in a ghetto. I could not recall what I had done with my wallet, but I was certain that I would be robbed if I left it anywhere near that store. My husband had just given me money for bills and there was $600 in the wallet. I was in tears. My husband and I (and Manther who is now totally silent and quite interested in mommy's meltdown) raced back to the store. As we pulled in the driveway, I saw a woman standing in front of the store with my wallet in her hands. She had found it sitting on the trash can and was wondering whether to take it back into the store. All of my cash was still in it. I thanked her several times and I wanted to hug her, but I didn't want to scare her with my drama. It would have taken my husband and I a month to replace that money and it would have been a financial burden for that month and probably the next. I was convinced we would never find that wallet and, if we did, it wouldn't have any cash in it. I am so grateful to the anonymous woman for her honesty and I pray that I an always be that honest, also.
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5 comments:

Trudging said...

Oh don't you love those repeated loud, piercing screams (-: I am glad that you were blessed by a stranger.

Omara said...

Thank God you found your wallet.

Mama Dukes said...

wow, God sure was watching over you!

Special K ~Toni said...

That is great- makes you realize there are still decent people among us!

Angie said...

I know that feeling! Two years ago I was xmas shopping at Target. I was in the toy aisle for a long time and couldn't find what I was looking for so I headed for the door. I realized right away that I left my purse (I never carry a purse) somewhere in the store. I ran back to the toys bobbed and weaved through the xmas shoppers looking for my purse which contained lots of cash. I found it sitting on a shelf of games. I was panicked to the point that I thought I was going to pass out.

I can't believe no one noticed a purse sitting out in the open.

I'm so glad you found your wallet! 600 bucks is a lot of money!