Lost….and found!

About four weeks ago, as I went to my parents’ house for my weekly visit to have the house cleaned while they were vacationing, I reached out for my wallet from my bag, and noticed that it was gone. I panicked. I ran down, and checked the car. Three doors were still locked, but the rear left door had been pulled open (it’s an old car, and it’s not too hard to pull open any door). I clearly remembered that I had locked all doors well. The only explanation to me was that after seeing my wallet lying on the back seat, someone had tried to pull open the door, and succeeded, and took my wallet. Or so I thought….

I went back up to the house, checked in all odd places, went back down to the car, and checked once again, asked the family living opposite if they knew anything about it, tried to retrace my steps, etc… to no avail.

I felt panic throughout my body. I called all my banks and cancelled my cards immediately. The thing that bothered me the most was that it was a special wallet. It was given to me by Asia in 2007, and when she gave it to me, I joked with her telling her that I would have it until I’d be 70 years old, which would be when we’d meet and tell each other the stories of our lives.

I didn’t feel ready to lose this wallet yet.

I thought to myself it might be a lesson in attachment and that I’d have to learn to let go.

Fast forward to three days later, I get a phone call from a person telling me that his domestic help had found my wallet. I immediately rushed to their house, which was about a block away from my parents’ house. I was welcomed by a Christian family and their domestic help. I sat on the couch, the woman returned my wallet, and as I opened it, I noticed that all my money was gone but everything else was intact. I didn’t mind and felt really grateful for having gotten back everything else. A few seconds later, the woman took out a bundle of money from a plastic bag and told me that she kept it separately so that nothing would happen to it. She handed over the money and finally, she took out a single Nepali coin from her bag and gave it to me. She had returned every thing that was inside that wallet.

What can I say? The Christian family praised Jesus. At that point, I was ready to praise anyone, but mainly the woman sitting opposite me. I don’t know if I thanked her enough. She reluctantly accepted Rs. 500/- that I gave her.  

Sometimes life just surprises you. This is not the first time that this happened. The same thing happened to Ana a few months ago. 

This maybe says something about the people in this country. The news shouts out corruption, which is evident in everyday life, but if we plunge deeper, there might be something else underlying.

In the meantime, I hold my bulging wallet ever more preciously.