My wife found a wallet.

[OregonBlue]

97. I lost mine and had it returned years later.

In 1981, when my son was very young, we drove a car across country for a friend. His dad had died and I brought the car back for him. He sold the car and gave me a nice bunch of money in cash. I had not even had time to go to the bank and we stopped to get gas. My son, who was 3 at the time, jumped out of the car and was almost hit by another car. Shaken, I put him back in the car and drove off. After I had gone several miles I realized I had thrown my wallet on top of the car when I chased after my son. It had $1,500 in it which was all the money I had in the world.

The next day was my son's birthday and all my friends pitched in and gave him a very nice birthday with lots of presents. I had to borrow money from family and friends just to get a place to live and get by until I found work.

A couple of years later (and after I had moved a couple of times) I got a knock on my door. There were two young boys who said they had been walking by and saw a package under my bushes so they got it and knocked on my door. The package had been partially ripped open and was very soggy and had obviously been under the bushes for a week or two. No return address.

Inside was my wallet with all of my old I.D. and credit cards, no money. There was a note inside in a shaky hand, like it was written by a very old person. It said "Sorry, it took me a while to find you and I needed the money but I wanted you to at least have your wallet back".

Since it was not a Washington license, I have no idea how that person ever found where I lived. I was out the money but it was a nice wallet so I was glad to have it back. Of course none of the I.D. or credit cards were good any more.