Kindness of Strangers

Last Tuesday we went to Balboa Park after dinner. The museum we hoped to go to was closed, so we stopped at a nearby playground. I didn't see the diaper bag and asked where it was. Tom's response? The driveway. We tried to get home as fast as we could but every driver on the road was over 90 and we hit every red light. The minute we turned the corner we knew. We drove around the block... Tom walked different areas... It was gone. It was probably gone 2.2 seconds after we drove away. It was clearly an accident but I couldn't help but be upset. Tom was distracted by Cole and simply forgot to put it in the car. I didn't see it on the ground because I was busy putting all the recyclables in the front seat. Accidents happen, but we sure did lose a lot - The bag, a wallet filled with hundreds of dollars in gift cards, and Cole's coats/hats/books/toys/etc. Whomever took it surely scored big time.

Only thing that made it better? It was the day after Halloween so I had removed both cameras to download photos/videos. Those memory cards are everything to me.

I spent the week buying new coats, hats, books and random baby gear and pretty much chalked it up as a loss since no one responded to my Craig's List post. We were sitting down for my birthday feast (pot stickers, sushi and wine!) when the doorbell rang. I thought Tom was up to his old tricks and gave him skunk eye - I'm a hot mess!! Why didn't you tell me you had people coming over?! We opened the door and an older gentleman was holding our bag. He was fearful we thought he took it on purpose, but we knew - Heck, he was standing on our porch! He's a nurse at UCSD and found it on the walk to his car. He grabbed it and tried ringing doorbells that evening, but no one was home. He didn't have to work again until yesterday, and found us after ringing our downstairs neighbor's doorbell. He wouldn't accept a reward and kept apologizing for taking it. I gave him a huge hug, told him it was my birthday and couldn't thank him enough for making it special - Nothing like a nurse named Bob making you realize there's still good people out there! Best present ever!