Today started out as a typical fall Saturday morning. I dropped my daughter off at the soccer field, and with thirty minutes to spare before game time, I headed for Starbucks.
In line, I struck up a conversation with a soccer dad from our team about his iPod. Was it the newest model with video? No. Oh, but it is newer than mine. He buys his music from Rhapsody. I buy my music from eMusic.com. Today I want to see the new iPods. Maybe after the game I’ll go to the Apple store at the mall. I’ve already added album art to my iTunes collection, in anticipation of having an iPod with a color display. Oh, dear. Now I’ve got him thinking about a new iPod. An expensive Starbucks conversation.
Got my venti (large, larger, largest!) non-fat latte, and drove back to the soccer field. I still have ten minutes before game time. Park the car. Open the trunk. Put latte down on rear car bumper. Pull out soccer chair. Latte, purse and second soccer chair all fall in a heap on the pavement. Latte gone. Chair all wet. Find towel (soccer moms have EVERYTHING in the back of their mini-vans). Dry chair. Pick up purse and empty coffee cup. No trash can near by. Throw empty coffee cup into the back of the mini-van. (Soccer moms have EVERYTHING in the back of their mini-vans.)
Soccer dad sees the entire show, and suggests that perhaps I wasn’t meant to have that caffeine this morning. No, I reply. I am going back for another one. I still have ten minutes. Got in car. Drove off. See friend walking toward field. Shout at her that I am going back to Starbucks (explaining the whole spilled coffee routine.) “Get me a small hot chocolate. I’ll pay you back.” she responds. Okay … but I’m thinking the hot chocolate will be my treat. I prefer it that way.
Standing in line at Starbucks for the SECOND time, I opened my purse for my wallet. No wallet. Look again. Cellphone. iPod. Palm Pilot. No wallet. Ask manager if anyone’s turned in a wallet. Nope. No wallet, no coffee, no hot chocolate. Return to car. Look in trunk. No wallet.
Call husband. Tell him the sad tale. Return to soccer field to look at puddle of spilled coffee. Did my wallet fall into the street with the coffee? I can’t remember. Return to game. Explain sad tale. A another parent asks if my wallet was blue. Yup. He saw it in the street by the coffee puddle, but thought it was garbage. Okay, at least now I know WHERE I lost my wallet.
My girlfriend (missing her hot chocolate) walks with me back to the street. She explains that she’s an expert finder. She once found her sister-in-law’s lost diamond in a soccer field. Yeah, but my wallet’s bigger than a diamond, and I’m pretty sure that if it was still in the street I would have seen it.
Then my phone rang. Hubby says a man just arrived at our house with my wallet. Wow! I am so grateful. No need for a new drivers license. No need to call all my credit card companies. No need to mourn the loss of all the cash in my wallet. Hurrah! The good Samaritan was a San Diego wedding photographer by the name of Robert Marcos.
Thank you, Robert!