Lost & Found

Have ya ever lost somethin' that was real important to ya and then had someone return it to ya? For the first time in my life I recently did....and cuz it was one of the most gut-wrenchin' experiences I've ever had, I hope it'll be the LAST.

Very early in the a.m. 3 days ago I suddenly realized....45 minutes later after leavin' my house.....that my very expensive (Samsung Galaxy 3) cell phone had dropped off my belt and was gone. By that time I had already been on & off the bus, walked damn near half of downtown, been in 2 stores and 1 bank, and hadda go retrace ALL of my steps in search of the damn thing....which was nowhere to be found.

Now, keep in mind that at time of mornin' there's already a huge group of "illegals" standin' around on our downtown sidewalks waitin' to be picked up for a days work; there's a large crowd of "methadonians/crackheads/pill-poppers/dope fiends" surfin' the city streets in search of their day's fix, amongst the many other workin'-class folk who are out & about on their way to their respective jobs, etc. So I did what any other normal person would do who just lost somethin' so important to 'em.....I asked each & every one of the above named persons if they had just seen a cell phone in a black case. And of course each answer was always a "NO!".

By that time I was a hysterical, sweaty, cryin' mess....thinkin' about how someone out there musta picked up my lost phone and had already wiped my bank accounts clean out (that cell holds EVERYTHING......all of my shoppin' & bankin' info/websites as well as ALL of my passwords, etc. etc.). I was ready to commit my damn self. But what else could I do? So I went to my usual a.m. coffee spot, McDonalds, to sit with the usual gang of misfits and I explained what happened. Since I didn't have a phone nor their telephone number I couldn't call my carrier yet to advise them of the loss and I was already thinkin' about any missed calls/texts I may have unknowingly received....which made me even MORE hysterical. I wanted to go make one last round about town just to check one last time, so I did.

I walked back over to the last stop where I had departed the bus and once again asked the unknown group of public commuters whether anyone had seen my phone. I got the same negative response but also had one kind, carin' lady offer for me to use her phone to call my phone to see whether anyone had found it. She dialed my number and I suddenly hear her say "hello?" She actually had someone on the line with her! Yes! Yes! Someone answered MY phone!! Maybe there's some hope! She continues to tell this stranger on the other end my sob story and she then passes her phone to me. I hear a lady's voice introduce herself as "Alison" and she tells me how she found my phone, still in its case, in the lobby of our residential building and how she assumed it belonged to someone who lived there so she picked it up and brought it to work with her. She also said she already contacted my daughter (whose pic & tel. number are on the home screen of my phone along with my 2 sons) and explained what happened. I broke down thankin' her over & over again. We made plans to meet up at the building at 6 pm that night and I once again thanked her immensely. I was SO relieved and felt SO blessed that my cell fell into the RIGHT hands instead of the wrong ones. Oh, the things that coulda gone WRONG if only that phone had gotten into the wrong hands. I shudder to think about it all.

Right on time that very same evenin' my doorbell rang and when I opened it there was "Alison"....who turned out to be my next door neighbor! Remember, I had just moved into the building back in April so I had never before even seen this woman...but she was definitely a sight for sore eyes. She held out my phone to me, in its case, and gave me the short version of how she found it. She said she has the very same phone and had lost hers 3 times already...so she knew exactly how I felt. I then told her the short version of how *I* had recently found a brand new Blackberry on our city streets and how I searched its contacts to find its owner but instead came across someone named "Mom" and called her to advise her of my find. Turned out it was her son's phone who musta lost it while goin' to the gym across the street. She came to my house to pick it up and brought me a bottle of wine as a thank you.

And speakin' of thank you's, I really wanna do somethin' nice for my neighbor Alison, but I am rackin' my brain as to just what. So if anyone has any suggestions I'd be open to hearin' about 'em. I thought of maybe purchasin' her somethin' like a Dunkin' Donuts gift card, or a nice house plant, or somethin' to that affect, but I'm just stumped.

So like I said above....if anyone here has lost somethin' and had it returned, let's hear yer story. Ya'll have already heard MINE, as annoyingly lengthy as it is ;-)