I just came across this old email I had written to myself, Dec. 2007, before I began blogging and wanted to share. Enjoy, it's my true story.
Dawn's Story:
As a sleep deprived mother of a 1 year old and 2 year old, I have to admit I'm not always at my peak awareness. On Sunday, December 2, 2007 after a meeting for work I stopped for a quick bite at a fast food restaurant on the way home. Not paying attention while calling my husband on my cell phone, I left the restaurant minus my purse (which I had left on the back of my chair.)
Now, everyone cringes at the thought of loosing their wallet and/or purse, but this was a particularly bad incident due to the fact I had stowed the wedding set my father had given my mother (and was now mine) as well as the small diamond and peridot necklace my husband had managed to afford on our meager income last Christmas in there. (Apparently, due to the high stress in my life, I had been breaking out in a rash where the white gold had been touching my skin, and I was planning on seeing a jeweler about it the next day). After arriving home 30 minutes later and realizing what I had left, I broke out in tears and called the restaurant. As I had feared, the purse had not been spotted by the staff or turned in. I then called the police and the wonderful female officer that was put in touch with me went immediately to the site and checked around. Still no purse. Many tears later over the course of two days, I came to realize that while the loss was a terrible one, my marriage was still very much intact in spite of the stress of our lives and that is what mattered most.
But then, that Wednesday, there came a knock on our front door and a man stood there with a handwritten note with a name and a phone number of a man to call saying only his boss had sent him. When my husband called the number, it turned out to be the boyfriend of the woman who had found my purse! When I spoke to Cheryl, she said she had seen my purse at the Wendy’s, looked into it and noticed the wedding set first. She then told me a story of how her wedding set had been stolen when she was 25 years old and how she had never gotten over it and wanted to be sure I got my set back. She then asked if I would meet her at the restaurant so she could return the purse. I was too scared to ask about the jewelry, afraid it was not there. Still, not believing my ears I rushed my family into the car stopping only at Costco to pick up 2 dozen yellow roses and $100 in cash. While we waited I penned a thank you note telling her how much the gesture meant to me and how she had set the example I hoped to live by for the rest of my days. Just as I finished she pulled up in the passenger side of an older model car with some body damage, a woman my age driving. Cheryl's daughter handed me my purse through the window as tears came to my eyes. Cheryl insisted that I check the contents of the purse while she watched with pride in her eyes saying that everything should be there and she had carefully placed the jewelry in a little baggy, then into a side compartment. My thoughts raced – the set should have been given quietly to her daughter, pawned at a shop to get money to repair their car, sold on ebay.com to earn Christmas gift money…but it wasn’t. I will forever be grateful to Cheryl and family and while we aren’t what I would consider “friends” she will be in my thoughts and prayers always and a part of my family history and lore for generations to come.
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