Thursday, January 14, 2010

Life Is Beautiful

About half an hour after MOTH left early for work yesterday, I heard a knock on the front door. Shuffling up there in my vacation mode trackie dacks, I opened it to find a woman I didn't recognize standing there. 'Does MOTH live here?' she asked. When I confirmed he did, she handed me his wallet. 'I saw this lying in the middle of Ayers Hill Road, so stopped to pick it up.' Yep, you guessed it, in a rush to meet a client, MOTH had performed that old trick of leaving his diary & wallet on the roof of his truck & driving off. He turns up & onto Ayers Hill Road to head down into the village, so that's where they must have come adrift. I was truly humbled to think this stranger had stopped, looked at the address on MOTH's Driver's Licence & gone out of her way to return it. All his credit cards & cash were still inside untouched.

I phoned him straight away & he turned around & headed straight back up the Freeway, as his diary still wasn't accounted for. Even more important than his wallet, I could hear the panic in his voice. His diary is his lifeline - jobs done, jobs scheduled, client contact numbers, quotes & estimates - he'd really be cactus if that went AWOL. Much to my relief, he arrived home not long after with the diary, looking a little battered & worse for wear but still intact. He'd found it in the long grass on the side of the T-junction into Stirling.

A timely reminder that life is full of good & kind people who live by a decent & honest code. I made MOTH promise to hold that thought & if the opportunity arises, to Pay It Forward.

And I made the same promise to myself.

29 comments:

  1. Thank goodness,
    I don't know what I would do if that happened to me.

    Give him a big hug Millie, I'm sure he was well and truly rattled.

    What a lovely lady, and yes I know there are many of them out there still.

    xx Coty

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  2. Life is good. I love a good story about the kindness of strangers.

    And the feeling you get when you pay it forward. Nothing better.

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  3. Wow, that was so fortunate! It is so nice to be able to have more faith in people in general, but good on you two, because I think passing on acts of kindness are what really make the differnce!
    Have a great day..
    :)

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  4. Hi Millie,

    So glad that everything turned out fine in the end.
    It is so great that there are still honest and good people out there.
    Makes you smile to hear stories like this.

    Have a wonderful Thursday.
    Hugs
    Carolyn

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  5. Phew, lucky Moth!!
    And I am sure you will Pay It Foward. I do believe in 'what goes around comes around'!!
    I have all positive experiences with 'The Book Depository" Good prices on books too, they have just recently added Aust $$ to their site so you can buy in our currency not Pounds or US $$'s.
    Give it a go with one book and see how you go. I use Paypal for my payment method and that works very easily. (perhaps too easily - lol)
    :) Irene x

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  6. every once in a while.....
    i lost my wallet in the middle of nyc on 3rd ave and 73rd street.
    the time was about 2 am,
    i received my wallet 2 weeks later by mail.
    it had all the money and cards in it.
    there was no return address.

    xxxx

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  7. That is really great news Millie. Happy New Year by the way. I left my wallet on the roof of my car in a country town and it was returned to me later. I was also pickpocketed in Spain and someone found my wallet and posted it to the Spanish Embassy in Canberra who then sent it back to me in Melbourne. There are lots of honest people in the world. Makes me feel happy!! xoxo

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  8. Love, love, love honest and good people!! I read another comment about the Book Depository and i use them all the time. LOVE IT. Mel xxx

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  9. It's really refreshing to hear that there are still some nice people in the world. We normally only hear about the bad ones, don't we Mill's?
    There is one small point that is worrying me..... just wondering what MOTH was doing in the long grass !!?!! Sorry MOTH. I think that I'm stirring it !! XXXX

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  10. It always warms my heart when I hear stories of people doing good. It restores my faith in human kindness, especially after experiencing quite the opposite whilst driving my husband to the airport today. I adore your blog. I found you through my dear friend Jackie. Glad a mishap turned into a good story ~ deb

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  11. Whew! All's well that ends well, and how wonderfully inspiring to know that there are still some honest people in the world! xxoo

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  12. Glad to hear there are good people still out there. Something similar happened to my Dad, except his wallet fell out of a huge hole at the bottom of his pocket as he was walking into his local. There was quite a lot of cash in there as he was paying his car rego the next morning and a truck driver found it and drove to Mum and Dads and handed it in, no money removed.

    Poor MOTH! What would we do without our diaries?!
    Ness xx

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  13. Oh gosh, he is SO lucky!!

    Thanks for following up the query, you're a doll and for your nice comment .. thanks :)
    xoxo

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  14. Love this! I was in Boston two years ago and left my wallet in a cab. For once it was full of cash-as I was there to holiday shop. It was returned by the cab driver completely intact-credit cards, cash everything. I rewarded the driver and felt blessed, really. There are so many good, good people.

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  15. Millie, I had a similar thing happen to me. Not long after moving here to Holland I had taken the bus into town shop, I had a few bags and backpack type purse well, I left the purse on the seat as I got off, it wasnt till hours later did I realize where is my purse?Mind you in the purse I had my ID from here in HOlland a diamond ring (dont ask me why I left it in there ) pictures of the kids at young ages money cards etc etc. My frist thought was I cant replace those pictures. We called the bus company and sure enough a lady turned it it, with NOTHING missing out of it. The only thing was she didnt leave a name for me to say thank you. I felt just like you and MOTH , I will pay it forward. Julie in Holland :)

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  16. Life IS good...and FULL of kind honest folks. Great story Millie!

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  17. Wow, that is awesome. My Jason has lost his wallet more times than I can count and when it was in public, the people always return it. I am astonished each time. I bought him a man purse, because it is not just the wallet that is misplaced but the cell phone and the keys all of which are still lying around getting misplaced since they rarely find their way into the man purse. Pay it forward, I agree. Love ya both, Heidi

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  18. My sister lost her wallet in Sydney in the middle of the Christmas holidays. The finder went out of his way to return it to her - all intact, not a thing missing. There are good people out there.

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  19. merci Millie pour tes gentils mots.
    Tu as raison la vie est belle!!!

    amitiés

    Manon

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  20. That is a great story! In this day and age it's so nice to hear about fabulous strangers doing fabulous things!

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  21. Delightful. I do believe that most of the time, most people do the right thing.

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  22. Hi Millie
    How great that not only was the wallet returned, but this simple act of kindness will now be passed on. I'd like to think most of us are that genuine... Poor MOTH he must of had a fright.

    Sounds like you are not impacted by the bushfires in SA. I saw it on the news and hoped all was well your way.. xx Julie

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  23. A similar story happened to my Mum, in fact her renter a few year's ago just before Christmas. The poor woman was distraught as she had left her wallet on the roof of her car with all her rent money and cash for christmas presents in it while filling up with petrol. She was in tears when she rang mum. And some kind person handed it in to the service station where it had come of her roof. She too got everything back, paid her rent and bought the kids their pressies. It's important to pass these stories on because I really do think most people are honest. It's those that aren't, thankfully, that are the exception! Wonderful post again Millie

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  24. I lost my wallet at the outside
    window at the bank. I just walked through my front door the phone rang . It was a woman and she drove to my house and handed it to me. I was in shock.Every thing was in there too.Thank God for Good People.

    yvonne

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  25. i love this story... and i TRULY believe in pay it forward in every case possible... so glad it all worked out... xx pam

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  26. About 30 years ago, I left my purse on top of my car and it fell off in the middle of the road. A very kind and good soul returned it to my house. There are good people in the world. So glad that Moth got his wallet back.

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And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart.
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
~W.H. Auden

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