Not too long ago, I'd been complaining about how I always let people go in front of me at the store who have 2 items when I have a bunch, but when the situation is reversed, I have to stand behind someone with a big ass cart full of stuff and they never let me go in front. I let people in traffic and rarely get let in. You see where this is going.
Monday morning, I put Patrick's baseball bag in the trunk of my car. I put him in the back seat. I got into the car, backed out of the garage, and drove through the neighborhood. I turned on to Dakota and heard a thunk. I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw my iPod lying in the middle of a pretty busy street. I pulled over and grabbed it. It still worked. My phone, which should have been with my iPod as nowhere to be found. You see, I left my phone and iPod on top of my car, like I do every morning. Only this morning, I forgot to take them off before I got into the car.
After several trips up and down Dakota and back to my house, I determined the phone was gone. I was upset, which is an understatement. My son, God bless him, told me that he was going to talk to Papa (my dad) and work something out with his $10 a week allowance to get me a new phone. I told him I would have to replace my phone on my lunch hour. I dropped him off to basketball camp and said a little thank you to the Universe for sparing my iPod at least.
I got to work, told my boss why I was late, and went into my office. I decided - on a whim - to call my phone, thinking it was smashed and would go straight to voice mail. So when it actually rang, I got excited. When a male voice answered, I got more excited. It seems that Damien, a Fresno Bus driver, saw my phone in the middle of the street and picked it up. He was trying to figure out how to get in touch with me to return my phone. He brought it to my office because he had a stop out that way.
My nature is to truly want to believe the best in people, but to assume the worst. I'm never the person who has lost items returned. I'm never the person who randomly finds money. I'm not the person who gets asked to jump the line with my 2 items. Yesterday, I was that person. An incredibly decent good samartian returned my phone.
While I'm grateful that the years of good karma have paid me back, I realized something yesterday as well. While I'm what some would consider unnaturally attached to my phone, I realized as I was driving to work and annoyed that I wouldn't be able to continue my text conversation with my boyfriend, the phone was just a thing. I could replace my phone. And yes, it might be expensive and annoying, but it could be replaced. I could reenter all my contacts and most of my photos are now on my computer (I must say, I love owning a smart phone that can be synched to my computer. Makes losing one much easier to stomach.) A phone is just a thing. Things aren't as important to me as it was to finish the conversation I was having. It was about something big and needed to be finished. It was, just much later than I'd hoped.
My phone and I were reunited. It works. The iPod was remarkably undamaged. Sometimes the Universe smiles on me. I happen to think that my new and improved outlook on life had something to do with it. You truly do get what you give.
Yay Damien!
I shall attempt to shudder less when I hear that name in the future.
Posted by: scott | June 23, 2009 at 08:35 PM
He didn't look the least bit possessed or evil, either. He was, in fact, a rather nice looking young man with a nice smile. And a very kind person to return my phone and not accept a reward.
Posted by: shannon | June 27, 2009 at 07:23 PM