The case of the missing Wallet!

In previous posts I have written about my core outlook on life which includes seeing the good in situations and recognising glass as half full or almost full as opposed to half-empty or empty.  Another key ingredient in my mindset is the belief of good in mankind in general and to eliminate any temptation to allow worry or fear become a driving force in the way I think of or approach a situation.

I was once told that worry is, in essence, ‘ingratitude in advance’!  I love that thought!  I try to focus on being grateful for the things at hand as opposed consuming time and energies with the ungratefulness of worry for those things in the future.  You can’t really worry about things in the past so worry is only an activity wasted on things that may or may not come about in the future!

Why do I mention this?  Well, Weds. the 30th of September, 2015 I was preparing for my trip to the UK (leaving on the 31st).  I went to REI (a outdoor clothing & accessories store) and tried on a pair of pants.  In the process of trying on the pants I wanted to be sure my wallet fit comfortably in my pocket so I put my wallet in the side pocket.  As you can possibly guess, I forgot to take the wallet back out of my pants and since I wound up not buying the pants….well, the wallet didn’t come home with me !!

I didn’t realise until later that evening that my wallet was missing.  I was in the midst of packing for my trip so I presumed I had just misplaced it during packing.  It wasn’t until much later that same evening that I had a good idea that I had lost it in the REI store.  My flight the next day was not until late in the afternoon so I had time to go back to the store to retrieve it.  Unfortunately, it was not there!.  I went through all the pants I might have tried on and looked through dressing rooms as did the Manager.  He checked lost and found.  All to no avail. I had to leave empty-handed.

That’s when those worrisome scenarios tried to creep in.  Would whoever found it keep it?  Would stolen identity be a problem?  I had to quickly put those types of thought to rest while simultaneously taking the necessary steps to protect myself such as deactivating my credit cards.  The immediate need at hand was to be able to continue my planned trip so time wasted in worry would not have been helpful.

I had just renewed my license so I had an old license, a debit card I had never activated and a credit card reserved for trips not to mention my passport so I was able to continue on my trip as planned.  I was sure that it would turn up and had hopes that maybe I had somehow misplaced it at home and one day it would surprise me when I least expected.

There certainly were times in the weeks to follow where I momentarily entertained thoughts of possible stolen identity and such.  Over and over again I put those thoughts aside and kept knowing that somehow somewhere it would turn up.

That surprise came a few days after Christmas.  I received a voicemail from the Manager of REI.  He had my wallet in the safe at his store.  The following morning I went to the store to retrieve the wallet and spoke with the day manager. She retrieved my wallet from the store safe and was amazed to hear that I had lost it 3 months earlier.  The day manager had presumed I had lost it the preceding night.

As it turns out someone had purchased those pants I tried on and had not used them apparently since purchase.  Upon discovering my wallet they returned it to the store where the Manager still had my contact details!

I am reminded once again to never give up on believing that mankind is inheritantly good at heart and honest.  The media and personal prejudices may try to influence us into believing the opposite but time and time again I have seen the true honesty and goodness of character of mankind in general.  This has been one more proof in my life of goodness out there!