Pay It Forward

First order of business: You guys are the best. I so needed to rant and rave AND feel justified in doing so and you all provided exactly post-rant affirmation I needed. Thanks for always knowing just what to say. :)

Second order of business: I feel compelled to be positive today. You know, to make up for yesterday. So I hope you don't mind if today's post contains an overdose of little sunshine. What follows is a true account of my (surprisingly positive) Monday morning...


Monday morning. And I am running late, late, late. And the world is out to get me. There's laundry that isn't done, dishes in the sink, the dog is fussing, one of my reading assignments isn't yet finished and, the worst part: I can't find my wallet anyplace. I've gone through all my jacket pockets- even those that I haven't worn for months. I've emptied purses and book bags, I've searched under couch cushions and behind car seats. Still, no wallet. What I do have is $15 in cash and class at 11:30, which is approximately 2 1/2 hours from now. My plan is this:

1. Put $5 of gas in the car, which is currently millimeters away from that little red E on the fuel gauge. I don't know if five bucks will be enough gas to get me to and from class but I need the rest of the money for parking and trains so I'll just have to hope for the best.

2. Drive to the train station just outside of Boston and pay $5 to park there. I can't park in the city because that would be at least $20 which, without my wallet, is money I don't have.

3. Use the remaining $5 to purchase a train ticket in and out of the city.

Still running late, I shove the $15 in my pocket and head for the gas station, all the while trying not to freak out over the whereabouts of my missing wallet which, come to think of it, I haven't actually seen in two or three days... I run into the station and ask for five dollars on pump six. "Five on six," the cashier says and I dash out the door to start fueling because I'm getting later by the second. As I fill the tank I realize that $5 won't even buy two gallons of gas and I start to seriously worry whether I'll really have enough in the tank to get where I need to go today...

"Keep fueling," calls out a voice from behind me, "I put another five on six." I turn around. There is a man walking from the station to his car, which is parked behind mine at the pumps. I'm floored.

"Thank you" I say, as I watch the pump continue to fill my tank.

"Don't worry about it," he replies. "I just kinda felt like you cuddah been my daughter, and if she could only put $5 of gas in her tank, I would want someone to help her out."

"Thank you SO much," I repeat, still a little stunned by what just happened.

"It'll bounce back to me, don't worry," he smiles and with that he gets in his car, waves, and pulls out of the station. He could not have known how critical that extra gas was to me or that I had absolutely no way of paying for it that morning.

I got to the train station and parked the car. I even arrived at school a full five minutes before class started. Halfway through that class I received the following email (erm, not that I was checking my email during class but.. okay, yeah, I totally was checking email during class...)

SUBJECT: Wallet found‏
From:	REGISTRAR (REGISTRAR@admin.(Libby's School).edu)
Sent:	Mon 11/26/07 12:01 PM
To:	libby@(email).com

Hi Libby, the (Your Town) Police Department has your wallet. You can
call them at ###-###-#### and press 1 for dispatch.

Lexi

Wow. Somebody found my wallet. And that somebody brought it to the police department. And the police department took the trouble to notify my school that they had it. And the school passed that information on to me. And now I don't have to spend the entire day worrying about my stolen identity and canceling all my credit cards!

The lesson here: It turns out the world is actually not out to get me after all. Au contraire, there are a lot of good people out there. And I really want to be one of them. For me, it's time to go out and pay it forward.