Where, oh where, did my wallet go?

Losing or misplacing important items happens to everyone, I suppose, during the course of their lives. How the item gets lost doesn’t really matter, a momentary lapse, something else on your mind, or just plain forgetfulness can create a very somber couple days as you try to recover the items lost.

Recently, one of my sons went through that experience by losing his wallet. The wallet contains just about everything a young man, or an old man, needs in his life. Cash notwithstanding, the licenses, credit cards, identification cards, and a myriad of other things that are in all likelihood are gone forever.

And you sit, puzzled, trying to retrace your steps. Trying to remember where it might have been that you lost the wallet?

For my son, it was no different. He was on his way home from classes at Richard Bland College and stopped by the Wawa to get gas. He went inside, got a drink, and paid for the gas and the drink. He went to the car and thought he may have put the wallet and drink on top of the car to fill the tank.

So far so good, right?  First thing to do is call the Wawa. But the Wawa hadn’t had anyone turn in or report that they found a wallet. So, he had no luck there. The next step is a thorough and complete search of his Jeep. But even after going through it several times, with several people helping, no wallet.

For some time, you still have that outlying hope that somehow the wallet will reappear. Somehow the whole thing is just a David Copperfield disappearing wallet act, but by the end of the night you know it’s as real as a punch the stomach. So you start calling the credit card companies, and everyone else you can get hold of to let them know that someone else may have your cards and please don’t let them use it.

You know it will take days to get the replacements, so you’re sort of held up for a few days waiting for things to get back to normal. At some point, you reach the level of acceptance and you understand that you are just going to have to live with the problems.

But then out of the blue something happens to brighten things up. You get a phone message from the Prince George Post Office. They tell you that someone has dropped off your wallet and that you can stop by and pick it up whenever you want to.

And then you think that maybe the world isn’t as bad off as it sometimes appears to be. Thankfully, the wallet didn’t fall into the hands of someone who was more than willing to run up the credit cards, or try to get money out of your bank account. No there was no cash nor were there any credit cards, but the hard to replace incidentals were all there.  There really wasn't much cash anyway, and using the cards would be hard cause they were cancelled, but at least the remnants found a good Samaritan.  Somehow, almost miraculously, there seems to be at least one decent person left in the world.

So to whoever that person may be who dropped the wallet off at the Post Office, let me be among the first to thank you for being a solid stalwart human being. Thank you for understanding how a missing wallet can affect a 21-year old. But above all thank you for proving that human beings can be, and are, decent well-meaning and caring people.