HE SAID IT WAS MEANT FOR HIM TO FIND IT...

HE SAID IT WAS MEANT FOR HIM TO FIND IT...

BY GLORIA FAYE BROWN BATES/ aka GRANNY GEE

Skip and I were on a trip yesterday ... we stopped at a restaurant three hours away from home. We like this restaurant very much, also, the owner, Mike. We stop by here often... in fact, we always say we are going to eat lunch there. We do want to get there in the evenings to try his wonderful seafood that comes from the ocean close by.

His restaurant is a homey, cosy restaurant that serves up real food prepared like at home. One can see his big pots steaming on burners with vegetables, and smell the wonderful aromas coming from the oven. He has homemade pies his mother prepares... it's just a little heaven of foods... comforting, nourishing... yes, there are alot of calories, but... they are 'good' calories. :))) (The kind of 'good'... that is truly mouth-watering!)

While we were there, Mike came out to our table and began talking to us. He said a man had eaten there and left, only to come back and ask him if anyone had possibly seen his wallet. The man was upset, as he had every right to be. Mike told him that no one had mentioned finding a wallet. The man left on a very high-dollar car. His wallet held alot of cash, credit cards.

Skip told Mike how he'd lost his wallet once, and how one evening we were outside in the yard talking to some friends.. a van drove up. Inside the van was a Spanish family... the father and daughter got out of the van, walked up to us smiling. The daughter asked Skip about his wallet... they knew Skip had lost it by his driver's license photo.

The father handed Skip his wallet... I can't put into words the relief of seeing Skip's wallet... it's such a major thing to lose. It holds so much 'important stuff', including the only money we had at the time. Needless to say we knew how upsetting it was to lose a wallet.

The family didn't want to accept money, but, Skip gave the young girl money in appreciation. It meant the world to get his wallet back... when in today's time... it does take a special kind of person to return something... when money is so tight.

Mike went back to the kitchen... a few minutes later a gentleman came in... we'd seen this gentleman in the parking lot when we drove up. He was hurrying to his truck... now, we know 'why'. The gentleman walked up to Mike and told him he'd found a wallet over by the table (where the man had lost it)... he said he went to his truck to sit and make calls to try to get the wallet to its owner.

The gentleman told Mike that he'd called the man that the wallet belonged to.. that the man was coming back to the restaurant ... would he please make sure the man got his wallet back. Mike assured him he would give it back... the phone rung... it was the man calling to see if he'd keep the wallet safe until he got there.

The gentleman walked by us and Skip spoke to him.... and like we always do wherever we are... the few words turned into a long conversation. Skip is a 'talking machine'... sometimes... I can be one, too... depends.

The gentleman said that he went out to his truck to make calls about the wallet... he said he didn't know how honest the people at the restaurant was ... that's 'why' he didn't just take it to the owner. He said he now, felt good about the wallet getting back to the owner. We could see it meant the world to him for the wallet to go back to where it belonged... we liked this man... he 'was like us'. We are like that, too.

Once I found a credit card that belonged to a doctor in Raleigh... it was laying in all places.. inside a shopping cart at Sam's Club. I called him, we met him to give it back.

Anyway... the gentleman said that the wallet contained hundreds of dollars, numerous credit cards. We felt such respect, and liking for this man. Skip shared losing his wallet with him, and how it felt to get it back unexpectedly.

When the gentleman left us... Skip and I talked about how good it was to see 'there were good people in this world' ... and how the gentleman could have taken the money out, and just laid the wallet somewhere. The man believed like Skip and I do... that if you do good... it does come back to you. I've seen this happen over and over in my life... the older one gets... the more you can look back and see that it's really true.

The gentleman said he'd been sitting there so long at that restaurant waiting for a call ... he was a driver. He said he'd never sat that long and he kept wondering 'why'.... when he found the wallet, he said it 'was meant for him to find it'.