Grateful

So after I finished publishing my little blog post yesterday I noticed that I had some voicemail and I decided to take a listen. There was a message from Loblaws saying that they had my wallet and that it had been found in the parking lot. I hadn't even noticed that my wallet was missing. Oh well.

"C'mon kids," (Remi had a friend over), "we're going to Loblaws to get my wallet." On the ride over I was reviewing the contents of my wallet in my head - oh yea, there's 20 bucks in there - I took out my receipts recently so I've got those - oh, there are 2 cheques - and I'm wondering if the stuff will be there or if my wallet will be gutted. I figure the stuff's there or my id wouldn't still be in my wallet and they wouldn't be able to call me.

Sure enough, the wallet's there, everything's in place and so was the bag of broccoli I had also left when I had been shopping earlier. Whew. I got the guy's number who'd found it and turned it in, called to thank him when I got home, and that was that.

The last time I had my wallet stolen I had $300 bucks in cash (bad move) and I was able to keep my id and credit cards, but the person at Starbucks in the Glebe made off with an easy whack of cash (it was leftover from my trip to the States, which I'm about to embark on again, as a matter of fact). The time before that, my wallet was found in the parking lot of Costco, and instead of walking it into the store, the lady who found it took it home to St. Albert. That was a bit of a journey to get back, but well worth it as again, everything was left intact.

I learned a long time ago not to have anything on me that I couldn't stand to lose. Jewelry, money, passports, gifts for people, whatever. I travelled in Asia many years ago and slept in community dorms and on beaches and learned to relax and know that my stuff was probably going to be okay and if it wasn't, it wasn't the end of the world.

While I was living in South Africa, someone came into the house I was staying in while I was there and took my purse out of the house. They took the wallet, including my credit cards and id and left my cash and passport and purse, thank you very much. The credit cards were replaced within a week and my Canadian Citizenship card took about 6 months at least to get back. Oh, and a bracelet with sentimental value was taken too. I just felt grateful that I didn't know it was happening and that nothing happened to me!

Sometimes I leave the keys in the door to my house. And like in the Michael Moore movie, as a good Canadian sometimes the door to my house is open and you could walk in. I try to lock it up and pay more attention to that now that I'm a mother, but I figure that if someone wants to take something, they will.

I've learned that my happiness does not depend on my stuff. I don't have much that can't be easily replaced. Even trinkets I've bought abroad show up in stalls in the Market now. You can buy everything just about anyplace in the world. The rest that's local is usually perishable anyhow.

So I'm totally grateful that I got my wallet back, and if it had been gone it would have for sure been a hassle that I could do without, but I know I'd be okay.