Pay it forward
I have a story to tell (groan....don't I always?).
Thursday, Rooster and I were headed to the campground. He was towing the "new to us" pop up that we bought so we could share our little piece of heaven. He left before I did, as the little redhead and I were going to come on the bike. It's a really nice ride, and she loves it SO much. Rooster had gotten most of the stuff I wanted to take over there, but I had a couple of things left to haul. I put my new I pad , chargers and a couple of books on tape into a bag and strapped it to the bike. I tugged on it and it seemed pretty secure, so , off we go. Redhead snuggled down into her pouch for the ride, and I was enjoying the relaxation after a long stretch at work. I wanted to get there pretty quickly, because I hadn't been to sleep yet and I didn't want to be riding sleep impaired.
I got to the campground, dismounted, and reached behind me to grab the bag. No bag. Oh crap!!!!
Rooster saw the look on my face, "what's wrong?" and I told him. Figuring if I had any hope at all of finding anything, I needed to leave right now, I remounted and took off to retrace my steps.
Riding all the way back the 35 miles I had just come, looking in the road and ditches. All the way back to my house, then turned around and came back, reretracing. No bag, no debris.
On that ride, it occurred to me that there were three outcomes possible. One, that someone found the bag and thought "woohoo!!". Two, that someone found the bag but didn't have a clue what to do from there. Three that someone honest AND smart found it, and would contact the library, who would then contact me.
I went back to the camper, got my bathing suit on and got myself in the river....my healing place, and trusted in God to handle it from there. Put myself to bed to read after about an hour's river time, and looked at my phone to find a missed call from an unfamiliar caller. I dialed my voice mail, hoping they had left a message......"mrs Cathie Silcox, this is the downtown library, mr wonderful found your I pad and two audiobooks you have checked out and asked us to call you to give you his number. You can contact him at xxx-xxxx and he will tell you how to get there to get your things." I called him, told him I would call him again in the morning to get directions, if that was,okay. He said sure, and I went to sleep with a smile on my face. No discussion whatsoever about the condition of said items.
I was just content with my renewed faith in humanity, and a little proud of feeling like I might have just manifested my situation.....
I called, got directions, and went to get my stuff. Mr wonderful came out in his driveway to hand me my stuff. Bag all torn up, he had put my stuff in a plastic bag. He said," your I pad is a little worse for the wear",and I thought "oh no, it's busted. Oh well, I have insurance, just a major pain in the butt to go through all that, but all is not lost." I took it out, opened it up, screen is pristine!! He turned it to show me where the corner of the case was scuffed. Wow. Case for audiobook is busted, but how can I complain about having to pay to replace that?
I try to hand him a $20, saying "I can't afford to give you what this is worth to me, but please take this and take your wife out to dinner." "ABSOLUTELY NOT!" He says. Of course....he is after all, mr wonderful. We get into a discussion about bikes, he rides as well. Parkinson's has altered his abilities enough that he has had to go from Harley's to the same size scooter,I have, but he is still able to ride. Yay! And still able to keep up,with the big boys.
I tell him I will pray that his Parkinson's doesn't take away his abilities until he's ready (He never will be), and that I promise to pay it forward. We hug, and I go on my merry way..
The rest of the day, I looked for ways to make people's life just a tiny bit better. Smiling, all the while, thinking "this is for you, John".
Thursday, Rooster and I were headed to the campground. He was towing the "new to us" pop up that we bought so we could share our little piece of heaven. He left before I did, as the little redhead and I were going to come on the bike. It's a really nice ride, and she loves it SO much. Rooster had gotten most of the stuff I wanted to take over there, but I had a couple of things left to haul. I put my new I pad , chargers and a couple of books on tape into a bag and strapped it to the bike. I tugged on it and it seemed pretty secure, so , off we go. Redhead snuggled down into her pouch for the ride, and I was enjoying the relaxation after a long stretch at work. I wanted to get there pretty quickly, because I hadn't been to sleep yet and I didn't want to be riding sleep impaired.
I got to the campground, dismounted, and reached behind me to grab the bag. No bag. Oh crap!!!!
Rooster saw the look on my face, "what's wrong?" and I told him. Figuring if I had any hope at all of finding anything, I needed to leave right now, I remounted and took off to retrace my steps.
Riding all the way back the 35 miles I had just come, looking in the road and ditches. All the way back to my house, then turned around and came back, reretracing. No bag, no debris.
On that ride, it occurred to me that there were three outcomes possible. One, that someone found the bag and thought "woohoo!!". Two, that someone found the bag but didn't have a clue what to do from there. Three that someone honest AND smart found it, and would contact the library, who would then contact me.
I went back to the camper, got my bathing suit on and got myself in the river....my healing place, and trusted in God to handle it from there. Put myself to bed to read after about an hour's river time, and looked at my phone to find a missed call from an unfamiliar caller. I dialed my voice mail, hoping they had left a message......"mrs Cathie Silcox, this is the downtown library, mr wonderful found your I pad and two audiobooks you have checked out and asked us to call you to give you his number. You can contact him at xxx-xxxx and he will tell you how to get there to get your things." I called him, told him I would call him again in the morning to get directions, if that was,okay. He said sure, and I went to sleep with a smile on my face. No discussion whatsoever about the condition of said items.
I was just content with my renewed faith in humanity, and a little proud of feeling like I might have just manifested my situation.....
I called, got directions, and went to get my stuff. Mr wonderful came out in his driveway to hand me my stuff. Bag all torn up, he had put my stuff in a plastic bag. He said," your I pad is a little worse for the wear",and I thought "oh no, it's busted. Oh well, I have insurance, just a major pain in the butt to go through all that, but all is not lost." I took it out, opened it up, screen is pristine!! He turned it to show me where the corner of the case was scuffed. Wow. Case for audiobook is busted, but how can I complain about having to pay to replace that?
I try to hand him a $20, saying "I can't afford to give you what this is worth to me, but please take this and take your wife out to dinner." "ABSOLUTELY NOT!" He says. Of course....he is after all, mr wonderful. We get into a discussion about bikes, he rides as well. Parkinson's has altered his abilities enough that he has had to go from Harley's to the same size scooter,I have, but he is still able to ride. Yay! And still able to keep up,with the big boys.
I tell him I will pray that his Parkinson's doesn't take away his abilities until he's ready (He never will be), and that I promise to pay it forward. We hug, and I go on my merry way..
The rest of the day, I looked for ways to make people's life just a tiny bit better. Smiling, all the while, thinking "this is for you, John".
posted by Mommanurse at 11:31 PM
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