Serendipity

Today I hopped on the freeway to run an errand at the mall. As soon as I got on, I realized it was a mistake because the traffic soon came to a grinding halt. Well, more like a snail's pace. (I still don't know what the deal was, I never saw an accident or construction or anything, people were just backed up for some unseen reason.) Annoying! I had no choice but to ride it out because my exit was the next one anyway, and it wasn't for another 5 miles or so. I made a mental note to take a different route on the way home. I ran my errand and Allie and I got back in the car (Drew has school on Tues. and Thurs., so that is when I usually run my errands- errands toting one tot is much easier than with two!) I absentmindedly hopped on the freeway, forgetting my resolution to take a different route, when I was quickly reminded of my mistake (again!) and realized I was going to spend the next 20 minutes inching along the freeway, annoyed. I took the next possible exit and headed for the frontage road, thinking that would get me moving faster. It would have, if some huge belly dump (awesome- I have always wanted to use that word in a sentence) wouldn't have been driving like 15 mph on a two lane road, impossible for anyone to pass. So, by getting off the freeway, I had actually probably added an extra 5 minutes to my drive time. Sigh.. So much for trying to be tricky! I have no idea what made me feel so impatient. My next errand was to go to Wal-Mart, and it's not like they make you have an appointment or anything! But for some reason I was super bugged about the traffic. So finally, I arrive at Wal-Mart and get Allie out of the car and we go over to the cart return to grab a cart, and that's when I noticed a black wallet sitting in the cart I was going for. My heart instantly sunk for the poor soul who was about to realize that they had misplaced their entire life. (I know what that feels like; I did the exact same thing once at Albertson's, only I didn't realize it was gone until the next day, and by then it was too late. I then spent the next three months cancelling everything in there and waiting in line all day long at the DMV with a baby, and opening a new checking account, getting a new temple recommend, etc, etc. You get the picture. It was such a nightmare.) So I take it inside and open it up, and of course, it is a cute little old lady's wallet, with a bunch of cash in it. I was panicking for her. Luckily, she was smart enough to put a little card inside with her emergency contact info and phone number on it, so I called the number. The young woman who answered told me that Mona had come home, and realized she had lost her wallet, so she headed back to the store to try to find it. So I hung up the phone, and headed straight for the customer service area. There I find the sweet little old blue-haired lady, looking very stressed and red-eyed. It was the saddest thing I have ever seen in my life. She was being helped by one of the employees there, and probably thinking things looked hopeless. So I caught them just as they were leaving, and I said "Are you Mona?" She looked at me, bewildered for a moment, and then I told her that I had her wallet. She grabs me and gives me the biggest grandma hug ever (I loved it) and thanked me. I told her how I knew how she felt, and I was so glad that I had found it. I told her goodbye and went my way to do my shopping. I got to thinking about how much our lives are affected by chance. I made a resolution not to get so annoyed about stuff like traffic. You never know why things happen the way they do. Sometimes, it's meant to be. (Sometimes, it's just crappy traffic, so deal with it!) So, I guess cute little Mona owes the belly dump man a thank you, since he is the one that made it so that I was the next person to use that shopping cart, so that Mona was able to get her wallet back. And I suppose I owe him a thank you as well- he is the reason I got that awesome grandma hug!